The widespread destruction wreaked by the Second World War and the division of Berlin not only left gaping holes in the street’s facades. 300 years after the first fortifying wall was erected, the Wallstraße was once again a frontier: in 1961, not very far away from the original Wall, the Berlin wall was built, separating not only East and West Berlin but also two whole political systems.

Just a few metres from this dividing line, but still in the centre of East Berlin, the post-1945 composition of occupants in the Wallstraße was influenced greatly by the political climate: until it merged with the SED in 1946, the Central Committee of the KPD briefly had its offices at 76-79 Wallstraße, in the building that now houses the Australian embassy. The next inhabitant after the KPD was the Dietz publishing company, which had just been established as the party’s own publishers.

The headquarters of Commercial Coordination (Kommerzielle Koordinierung, or KoKo for short), a department of the GDR’s Ministry for Foreign Trade run by Schalck-Golodkowski, occupied 17-22 Wallstraße.

No. 57, on the site where the Brazilian embassy now stands, was the place where the SED Central Committee welcomed its guests.

The GDR was not well-known for its efforts to conserve historical buildings. It is then all the more surprising that they should in 1967 transplant an entire building from Breite Straße to Märkisches Ufer: the Ermelerhaus, which thanks to its salon evenings had once upon a time been an integral part of Berlin’s intellectual and cultural scene.

Introduction

Water, city expansion and the stronghold period until the late 17^th century

Sugar, freemasons and bathing in the 18^th and 19^th centuries

Textile industry, federations and city museum post-1900

Prominent roles and central location along the wall in the GDR

Back to the centre post-1989