KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens) in Berlin is a mall for “Luxury” items. But it was founded in 1907. Was there a concept of separation even before WW1? or Did they think only West people buy luxury? What’s History behind the name?
KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens) in Berlin is a mall for “Luxury” items. But it was founded in 1907. Was there a concept of separation even before WW1? or Did they think only West people buy luxury? What’s History behind the name?
9 comments
According to Wikipedia:
>Der Begriff Westen bezog sich dabei auf die großen städtebaulichen Erweiterungen von Tiergarten, Charlottenburg und Wilmersdorf aus der Zeit nach der Gründung des Deutschen Kaiserreichs 1871, die inoffiziell unter der Bezeichnung Neuer Westen zusammengefasst wurden.
Translation:
The term West referred to the major urban expansions of Tiergarten, Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf from the period after the founding of the German Empire in 1871, which were unofficially subsumed under the name New West.
🤦♂️
The name is related with the western expansion of Berlin in the late 19th century.
The separation was a result of WW2
Actually it has nothing to do with “the West” as we understand it today. Its not about geopolitics or cold war times, since that came later, as you stated correctly. Its about the positioning in the (back then, new western part of the) city.
My mind is blown,
I allways thought this was a “Propaganda” move to show the wealth of the west, in its exclave in Berlin.
That the name was coincidence…. is crazy.
It’s just one of many malls like this that used to exist. The ones in the east of the City simply didn’t survive the allied bombings.
Actually, in most european cities, the expensive, bourgeois neighborhoods were situated in the western parts because the industries settled in the east, so the working-class moved there.
It was situated west of Berlin, in the neigbouring wealthy town of Schöneberg. Compass directions are not political!
It’s a department store, not a mall.
But yes, as others have pointed out, when it was founded it wasn’t actually in Berlin, but just outside the city limits in the town of Schöneberg close to Wilmersdorf and Charlottenburg. These were rapidly growing neighbourhoods just to the west of Berlin, where those who could afford to escape the narrow, dirty old city to live in a suburban paradise did so. And so this exclusive department store was built for them, the Department Store of the West.
Not until 1920 did these towns and cities become officially incorporated into Berlin, making “Greater Berlin” the third most populous city in the world. Today, it has almost the same borders and the same population, so has slid down the rankings quite a lot.
Every City has Western, Eastern, northern and Southern parts and buildings / institutions named after them.
Is just coincidence that it gained this political level in Berlin.
I’m sure there is a South Park in South Korea that has no political connotation.