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.
15-1-1919	On this day January 15, 1919: Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg are murdered by the Freikorps, a right-wing extremist militia.
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.
18-1-1701	On this day January 18, 1701: Berlin becomes the capital of Prussia.
18-1-1871	On this day January 18, 1871: Berlin becomes the capital of the newly unified German Empire.
20-1-1942	On this day January 20, 1942: The Wannsee Conference is held. At the behest of Hermann Göring, Reinhard Heydrich has summoned a number of high-ranking Nazis to decide on the “Final solution to the Jewish question”. Within 90 minutes, they have decided on the industrialized extermination 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.
6-2-2006	On this day February 6, 2006: The East German parliament, The Palace of the Public, which housed the so-called People’s Assembly, is being demolished. The demolition is expected to take 15 months, but it will not be completely removed until two and a half years later.
7-2-1882	On this day February 7, 1882: The Berliner Stadtbahn (S-Bahn) runs for the first time. The first section is part of the ring line that runs around the city’s developed area.
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.
8-3-2019	On this day March 8, 2019: International Women’s Day is a public holiday in Berlin for the first time.
18-3-1799	On this day March 18, 1799: The Building Academy is founded by Emperor Friedrich Wilhelm III. In 1836, it gets its own building, designed and managed by architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
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.
18-3-1990	On this day March 18, 1990: General elections are held in the German Democratic Republic, the first free elections since 1932 in the Weimar Republic and the only free elections in the republic. In October of the same year, the GDR is dissolved and reunited with the Federal Republic of Germany.
20-3-1307	On this day March 20, 1307: The two towns of Berlin and Cölln are officially united into one single city, Berlin. Between 4,000 and 7,000 inhabitants live in the united city.
22-3-1876	On this day March 22, 1876: The National Gallery is opening its doors to 19th-century art for the first time. Today, the museum houses art spanning three centuries.
25-3-1809	On this day March 25, 1809: The Royal Prussian Police in Berlin is founded. Today, the state police of Berlin has changed its name to Polizei Berlin.
27-3-1907	On this day March 27, 1907: The Kaufhaus des Westens department store, abbreviated to KaDeWe, is founded at Wittenbergplatz.
28-3-1935	On this day March 28, 1935: Leni Reifenstahl’s propaganda film Triumph of the Will premieres at the Ufa-Palast am Zoo.
3-4-1945	On this day April 10, 1945: The medieval Franciscan monastery church is hit during one of the British air raids and left in ruins. The monastery church is never rebuilt, but the ruins are preserved as an architectural memorial.
11-4-1929	On this day April 11, 1929: The legendary Kino Babylon cinema opens for the first time. The cinema is still in operation and shows silent films accompanied by a live orchestra, among other things.
11-4-1968	On this day April 11, 1968: The socialist activist Rudy Dutschke is shot and wounded at Kurfürstendamm 142 by a Neo-Nazi. Dutschke survives but suffers brain damage that causes epileptic seizures. Dutschke dies in exile in Denmark in a drowning accident caused by an epileptic seizure.
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.
22-4-1956	On this day April 22, 1956: The Soviet Union staged the discovery of a 400-meter-long spy tunnel running from West Berlin into East Berlin. The spy tunnel had been built by the American and British intelligence services to tap East German telephone lines to Moscow. However, the Soviet Union had a double agent on the team and had been aware of the tunnel all along.
23-4-1976	On this day April 22, 1976: The Palace of the Republic opens for the first time. The building houses the People’s Chamber, which is East Germany’s parliament. The Palace of the Republic also serves as a cultural center hosting events for the public.
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.
6-5-1859	On this day May 6, 1859: Explorer Alexander von Humboldt dies. He is often considered the father of environmentalism.
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.
10-5-1859	On this day May 10, 1859: Explorer Alexander von Humboldt is buried at Schloss Tegel. He died four days earlier at the age of 89.
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.
27-5-2008	On this day May 27, 2008: The Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism is unveiled in Tiergarten. The memorial was created by the Scandinavian artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset.
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.
26-6-1948	On this day June 26, 1948: The so-called airlift begins, with British and American planes transporting food and supplies into West Berlin, because Stalin has cut off the city from the outside world two days earlier.
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.
29-6-1685	On this day June 29, 1685: The Berlin Stock Exchange is founded.
1-7-1989	On this day July 1, 1989: The first Love Parade, an outdoor techno music festival, is held. It is later followed by Rave the Planet, an electronic music festival.
9-7-2022	On this day July 9, 2022: The first Rave the Planet is held. It is an electronic music festival that succeeds the techno festival Love Parade, which had been shut down due to a violent fatal accident a few years earlier.
25-7-1892	On this day July 25, 1892: The Berlin soccer club Hertha BSC was founded.
1-8-1936	On this day August 1, 1936: Olympiastadion is inaugurated on the first day of the Summer Olympics.
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.
25-8-1960	On this day August 25, 1960: Anhalter train station is being demolished. The station is located in West Berlin, while trains on the line run to and from East Germany. The station no longer serves any purpose and was damaged during air raids in World War II. Part of the facade will remain standing as a reminder of the war.
1-9-1895	On this day September 1, 1895: Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was consecrated. The church’s architecture was inspired by Bonn Minister.
2-9-1873	On this day September 2, 1873: The Victory Column, commemorating the victories over Denmark, France, and Austria in a series of wars between 1864 and 1871, was inaugurated on Königsplatz in front of the Reichstag. Today, the Victory Column stands on Großer Stern in Tiergarten.
3-9-1926	On this day September 3, 1926: After two years of construction, the Berlin Radio Tower is finally complete and is be officially inaugurated.
18-9-1818	On this day September 18, 1818: Neue Wache is inaugurated.
30-9-1949	On this day September 30, 1949: The last planes in the so-called airlift deliver food and supplies to West Berliners. Stalin lifted the blockade back in May, and now supplies can once again reach West Berlin by train and truck.
1-10-1842	On this day October 1, 1842: Stettiner railway station opens. Trains run from Berlin to Szczecin, then the capital of the state of Pomerania, which is now part of Poland. Stettiner railway station is hit several times by air raids during WWII, and only the S-Bahn section remains today under the name Nordbahnhof.
3-10-1869	On this day October 3, 1869: Rotes Rathaus, Berlin’s city hall, opens for the first time.
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.
7-10-1949	On this day October 7, 1949: The German Democratic Republic is established in the Soviet sector, and East Berlin becomes its new capital.
14-10-1884	On this day October 15, 1884: Hamburger Bahnhof is closing permanently. It is a temporary train station that is now an art museum.
15-10-1846	On this day October 15, 1846: Hamburger Bahnhof opens for the first time. It is a short-lived train station that is now an art museum.
24-10-1806	On this day October 24, 1806: Napoleon’s troops occupy Berlin.
25-10-1805	On this day October 25, 1805: Alexanderplatz is named after Tsar Alexander I of Russia. The square was previously called Paradeplatz.
27-10-1961	On this day October 27, 1961: Tanks on both the American and Soviet sides of Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin begin a standoff just 100 meters apart.
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.
23-11-1943	On this day November 23, 1943: Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is hit by a bomb during a British air raid. The church is not rebuilt until the late 1950s, while the bombed church tower remains in ruins.
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.