Their Way in Deutschland

Kreuzberg as a neighborhood of immigrants from the 19th century on

Editor’s note: This post about a museum exhibition covering 100 years of immigration to the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin originally appeared on my blog on February 24, 2023. The information has been edited and updated.

On Museum Sunday this month, we made our way to the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum to see the exhibit, "Trotz Allem: Migration in die Kolonial-Metropole Berlin," (Despite All: Migration to the Colonial Metropolis Berlin), which explores the city's long history as a hub for immigrant workers in Germany.

Beginning in the 19th century, immigrants from the German colonies in east Africa and China (the former "leased territory" of Kiaochow Bay) moved to Berlin, attracted by its rapid industrialization and the promise of jobs.

Thanks to the Hobrecht Plan: Kreuzberg in the 1860s quickly morphed from city dwellers' destination for weekend outings into a densely packed urban neighborhood. Rows of cramped apartment buildings, later derided as mietskaserne ('rental barracks'), c…