Berlin is a city with a mixed history. From industrialization to world wars, the Berlin Wall, and reunification. But what are the historical highlights that have shaped the city and its inhabitants?

On the front page, you will find a historical event that took place on the current date. Here you will find a complete list of notable events in Berlin’s history.

Events in Berlin History

Date	Event
10-1-1927	On this day January 10, 1927: Fritz Lang’s science fiction film Metropolis premieres at the Ufa-Palast am Zoo. The film is a commercial failure, but is now considered a classic of expressionist cinema.ent
16-1-1927	On this day January 16, 1945: Hitler moves into the Führer bunker, where he lives until he commits suicide on April 30 of the same year.
20-1-1942	On this day January 20, 1942: At Reinhard Heidrich’s invitation, top Nazis meet for a conference in a villa near Wannsee, where they decide on the so-called Final Solution to the Jewish Question. This is effectively the beginning of the organized murder of Europe’s Jews.
30-1-1933	On this day January 30, 1933: Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany in a short-lived coalition government with the conservative German National People’s Party.
3-2-1945	On this day February 3, 1945: The largest air raid hit Berlin with 1,500 American bombers and around 1,000 fighters. It caused a huge firestorm that lasted four days. 2,894 people was killed and leaving more than 120,000 homeless.
4-2-1933	On this day February 4, 1933: President Paul von Hindenburg issues a decree restricting many of the freedoms of the Weimar Republic, including freedom of assembly and freedom of the press.
5-2-1989	On this day February 5, 1989: Chris Gueffroy is killed. He was the last person to be shot and killed while attempting to cross the Berlin Wall from East Berlin before the fall of the Berlin Wall nine months later. He was 20 years old.
5-2-2018	On this day February 5, 2018: It’s what’s known as a circle day. The Berlin Wall has been gone for as long as it stood. 10,315 days in total.
6-2-1888	On this day February 6, 1888: Conscription is extended in the German Empire to seven years, and the armed forces are increased to 700,000 in wartime.
8-2-1950	On this day February 8, 1950: By unanimous decision of the East German People’s Chamber, the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) is established.
18-2-1902	On this day February 18, 1902: The first U-Bahn line (today’s U1 line) opened on the section between Stralauer Tor and Potsdamer Platz.
18-2-1943	On this day February 18, 1943: Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels declares total war from all Germans in a speech at the Sport Palast.
27-2-1933	On this day February 27, 1933: The Reichstag catches fire at around 9 p.m. The fire is arson, and Hitler exploits the situation to declare a state of emergency and seize full power.
27-2-1943	On this day February 27, 1933: The Rosenstrasse protest breaks out. It is a rare mass demonstration in Germany against the Third Reich’s deportation of Jews in Berlin. Non-Jewish wives and relatives of imprisoned Jewish men protest for a week, resulting in the release of approximately 1,800 Jews.
4-3-1922	On this day March 4, 1922: The world’s first vampire film, Nosferatu, an unofficial and unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, premieres at Berlin’s Zoological Garden.
18-3-1945	On this day March 18, 1945: The second largest air raid hits Berlin. 1,329 American bombers and 733 fighter planes bomb Berlin. A conservative estimate suggests that around 3,000 Berliners were killed in the air raid.
16-4-1892	On this day April 16, 1892: Dora Richter is born. In 1922, she becomes the first trans woman to undergo gender confirmation surgery. The surgery is performed by Charité in Berlin.
16-4-1892	On this day April 16, 1945: The Battle of Berlin begins as Soviet soldiers reach the city limits of the German capital.
26-4-1966	On this day April 26, 1966: Dora Richter dies in exile in Czechoslovakia. In 1922, she was the first transgender woman to undergo gender reassignment surgery.
30-4-1945	On this day April 30, 1945: Hitler commits suicide in the Führer bunker, where he has been living since January 16 of the same year.
2-5-1945	On this day May 2, 1945: The Soviet army takes control of the Reichstag, and Soviet soldier Yevgeny Khaldei waves a Soviet flag from the roof of the building.
6-5-1933	On this day May 6, 1933: Magnus Hirschfeld’s library is looted by students from the German Student Union and members of the Nazi Party. The library contained unique books, journals, and studies on gender and sexuality.
8-5-1945	On this day May 8, 1945: Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signs Germany’s unconditional surrender, marking Europe’s liberation from the Third Reich and the end of World War II in Europe.
10-5-1933	On this day May 10, 1933: The infamous book burning takes place at Bebelplatz, then known as Opernplatz. The books include works by Bertolt Brecht and Karl Marx, among others, as well as Magnus Hirschfeld\’s entire library, which contained unique books, journals, and studies on gender and sexuality.
12-5-1949	On this day May 12, 1949: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ends the Berlin Blockade after American and British bombers successfully fly supplies and food to West Berliners for 11 months.
13-5-1927	On this day May 13, 1927: Huge losses hit the Berlin Stock Exchange, where the index lost 31.9% of its value. The day became known as Black Friday.
12-6-1987	On this day June 12, 1987: US President Ronald Reagan gives a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate, where he utters the famous words: Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
24-6-1948	On this day June 24, 1948: The Berlin Blockade begins when Soviet leader Joseph Stalin blocks all access to supplies and food to West Berlin.
26-6-1963	On this day June 26, 1963: US President John F. Kennedy gives a speech in Berlin, declaring that an attack on Berlin is an attack on NATO. In the speech, he utters the famous quote: Ich bin ein Berliner.
1-8-1936	On this day August 1, 1936: Hitler opens the Summer Olympics in Berlin. The 1936 Summer Olympics torch relay was the first of its kind. Fritz Schilgen ran the final leg with the torch and lit the Olympic flame.
13-8-1961	On this day August 13, 1961: The Berlin Wall is built in the middle of the night, taking Berliners by surprise when they wake up the next morning and find they can no longer cross the border between East and West Berlin.
17-8-1962	On this day August 17, 1962: East German border guards shoot and kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to flee over the Berlin Wall to West Berlin.
3-10-1990	On this day October 3, 1990: The German Democratic Republic is dissolved, and the re-established federal states in the east are integrated into the Federal Republic of Germany. The day is celebrated annually as German Unity Day.
9-11-1989	On this day November 9, 1989: The fall of the Berlin Wall. East Berlin opens its borders at the Bornholmer Strasse crossing as thousands arrive after East German government official Günter Schabowski mistakenly announces that restrictions on travel to the West will be lifted immediately, without delay.
22-12-1989	On this day December 22, 1989: Workers knocked a hole in the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate, and as soon as the hole was made, East German border guards and West German police shook hands. Later that day, the then West German Chancellor Helmuth Kohl walked through the famous landmark and shook hands with East German Prime Minister Hans Modrow.