Karl Marx Allee
This 300ft wide boulevard stretches for 1.4 miles between Friedrichshain and Mitte. Built in two phases from the early 1950s to the mid-1960s in the German Democratic Republic, it played a major part in the post-war reconstruction of East Berlin. The first phase is in the ornate Socialist Classicism style. The second, towards Alexanderplatz, is modernist. It was known as Stalinallee until 1961 and provided homes for workers, a cinema (Kino International, designed by Josef Kaiser, opened in 1963), restaurants, cafes and a hotel (since demolished).
The East German uprising of 1953 began here with striking construction workers. The boulevard also hosted East Germany’s May Day parades.
I visited in 2010 and my recollection was that it was a neglected collection of large communist blocks (not helped by the rain – as seen in the final photo). 16 years later it has been smartened up. Lunch at the sympathetically restored Mokka-Milch-Eisbar was excellent and full of smart Berliners, while the next-door Kino International, restored between 2024 and 2026, was full of fashionable Gen Z types.
