Wittenau

Wittenau is a German locality (Ortsteil) within the borough (Bezirk) of Reinickendorf, Berlin.

History

Originally named Dalldorf it was first mentioned in 1332. In 1869 the city of Berlin had acquired land in the Dalldorf in order to built the Städtische Irrenanstalt zu Dalldorf (City-owned Madhouse at Dalldorf), today's Karl-Bonhoeffer-Nervenklinik (Karl Bonhoeffer mental home), between 1877 and 1879. In the following years Dalldorf became the synonym for 'madhouse' in Berlin parlance. Therefore in 1903 Dalldorf applied at the Niederbarnim district commissioner for a new toponym, Wittenau after its late mayor Peter Witte, granted by the Prussian government with effect of 23 August 1905. In 1920 Wittenau merged into Berlin by the Greater Berlin Act.

Wittenau's former neighbourhood Märkisches Viertel was elevated to locality status in 1999. Until 24 April 2012 Borsigwalde, now also a locality of its own, was part of Wittenau.

Geography

Overview

Situated in the north-western suburb of Berlin, not too far from the forest and the lake of Tegel, it borders with the localities of Waidmannslust, Lübars, Märkisches Viertel, Reinickendorf, Borsigwalde and Tegel. Its eastern corner, in Schorfheidestraße, is close to Wilhelmsruh, in Pankow district.

Berlin-Wittenau station

Berlin-Wittenau (in German S-Bahnhof Berlin-Wittenau, officially Wittenau (Wilhelmsruher Damm)) is a railway station in the Wittenau district of Berlin, Germany. It is served by the Berlin S-Bahn and numerous local buses. It is also the northern terminus of the Berlin U-Bahn line U8.

Overview

The station opened with the Nordbahn railway line from Berlin to Neubrandenburg on 10 July 1877, then called Dalldorf, the former name of Wittenau until 1905. When a second railway station in Dalldorf was erected at the branch-off to Kremmen in 1893, it received the appendix (Nordbahn). On 5 June 1925 Wittenau (Nordbahn) was connected to the S-Bahn network.

The U-Bahn station opened on 29 September 1994, with the northern continuation of the U8 line to reach the nearby housing estates of Märkisches Viertel. S- and U-Bahn station then received the appendix (Wilhelmsuher Damm), the main street leading to Märkisches Viertel. It retained this designation even after the former Wittenau (Kremmener Bahn) station was renamed Karl-Bonhoeffer-Nervenklinik on 28 May 1995.