Berlin/Treptow-Köpenick

These days, Köpenick is not exactly a household name among Germans, as the quiet outlying district of Berlin is not exactly famous for much. If Germans do know it, then for a bizarre episode in local history turned into multiple works of theater, film and literature by big names of German cultural production of the 20th century. The down on his luck shoemaker and small-time criminal Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt (born 1849), who by the year 1906 had tried to make an honest living but faced the bizarre regulations of his day that barred an ex-con from living basically anywhere (in the most famous play, he is presented as being unable to get a residence permit because he has no job and unable to get a job because he has no residence permit - a Catch 22 avant la lettre). Thus, he decided to run his most famous con of them all, with a used military uniform and his acquired knowledge of military customs and forms he stopped a group of Prussian soldiers, ordering them to follow him before he took them by train to (the then independent city of) Köpenick. There, he had the mayor arrested "on highest orders", and "confiscated" the municipal treasury - a value of some 4000 mark - duly noted with a receipt exact to the last pfennig, which Voigt signed in the name of his former jail director. While Voigt escaped with no-one the wiser, he was ultimately caught and sentenced to four years in prison. However, the German press loved his exploits, and even Kaiser Wilhelm II is said to have been sympathetic, so he was pardoned. Voigt would manage to capitalize on his fame, and lived a mostly uneventful (and non-criminal) life until his death in Luxembourg in 1922. German playwright Carl Zuckmayer would turn the story into a play in 1931, which was, of course, much more than just a "funny story", given the rise of the uniformed Nazis and his treatment of the Catch-22 that led Voigt to his act. It is this treatment that many subsequent movie adaptations, including a 1956 one with Heinz Rühmann and a 1997 one with Harald Juhnke, are based on. Today, a statue of the Hauptmann stands in front of the Rathaus (city hall) of Köpenick, the site of his most famous exploit.

The play, as well as subsequent discussions, but also foreign (particularly English) press at the time, like to emphasize the militaristic element of the story and the "unquestioning obedience" that a mere uniform commands. One line, repeated over and over in different contexts in the play, is "(Wo) hamse jedient?" - "(Where) did you serve?" (i.e. in the military), with the implication that a man's social station depends on nothing more than on their military service and career. Every retelling also made Voigt out to be more of a "tragic hero" and "noble thief" than the actual events would indicate.

Treptow is best accessed by S-Bahn lines  S41 ,  S42 ,  S8 ,  S85  and  S9 . The most important station is 🌍 Treptower Park. 

To get into Köpenick take the  S47  to 🌍 Spindlersfeld or the  S3  to 🌍 Köpenick and consider taking one of the many trams to the old town and the old palace.

To get to the Müggelsee take the  S3  to 🌍 Friedrichshagen or to 🌍 Rahnsdorf and if you want to round it you will have to use the Ferry transport of the BVG and ferry line F23 or F24. To get to the Langer See lake take the S8,9,45,46 or 85 to 🌍 Grünau and then Tram 68.

To get from 🌍 Berlin Brandenburg Airport to the Treptow-Köpenick area,  S9  and  S45  are most likely your best bet.

Perhaps the most picturesque line in the city, known to transit system officials as "the most beloved tram line in Germany" due to its customers' passionate opposition to reducing service, is Line 68. In off-seasons it has more scenery than people, but when hot weather comes its lakeshore meanderings and the tiny, "gemütlich" village of Alt-Schmöckwitz at the line's outer terminal draw so many customers that extra trams are pressed into service. Line 68 may be best accessed at the Berlin-Grünau S-Bahn station, where all types of convenience food and shopping are available.

Beyond the village center and tram terminal, a large forested area of lakefront parkland offers hiking and bicycling possibilities. This was once the home neighborhood for expatriate American, international music and film star Dean Reed. The Line 68 tram had one brief moment of glory, in 1936. In its former incarnation as Line 86 it was the best route to the Olympic rowing events and some structures, street names, etc., still reflect that high point.

The German Bicycle Route D3 (which runs along the European Bicycle Route R1) runs directly through this district. It goes through Treptower Park, the old town of Köpenick and near the southern side of Müggelsee.

• 🌍 Archenhold Observatory, Alt-Treptow 1, ☏ +49 30 536 063 719. Museum: W-Su 14:00-16:30. Guided tours: Th 20:00; Sa Su 15:00. The longest moving refracting telescope is 21 m long with a lens diameter of 68 cm. This giant telescope was built in 1896 by Dr. Freidrich Simon Archenhold but is now part of the Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin. It was the place where Albert Einstein presented his Theory of Relativity to the public in 1915. Free, guided tour €6. 
• 🌍 Soviet War Memorial, Puschkinallee, ☏ +49 30 25002333. In Treptower Park, a huge memorial and the surrounding war cemetery for 5,000 of the Red Army soldiers fallen during the Battle of Berlin. Distinctive Soviet realism features, with its iconic statue of a Red Army soldier standing proudly over a broken Nazi swastika. 
• 🌍 Spreepark, Wasserweg (S-Bahn: S8,S9,S42,S46,S47,S85 Treptower Park or Plänterwald, Bus: 165,166,265,N65 Rathaus Treptow), spreepark@berliner-spreepark.de. This abandoned amusement park with its iconic large Ferris wheel openend in the German Democratic Republic in 1969. After its closing in 2002 the rotting theme park and its apocalyptic atmosphere became a target of international media coverage, amongst others by the New York Times. In 2016 it was announced that the venue will be restored an reopen as an art and culture park. 

• 🌍 Altstadt Köpenick. The old town of Köpenick is surrounded by water. Especially noteworthy are the Köpenick Palace which houses a museum of applied art and the Neogothic town hall. 
• 🌍 Schloss Köpenick (Köpenick Palace) (S-Bahn: S3 Köpenick or S47 Spindlersfeld, Tram: 27,60,61,62,63,67,68 Schloßplatz Köpenick, Bus: 68,162,164,165). The charming Baroque water palace of the Hohenzollern electors surrounded by the Dahme river and an English garden. 
• 🌍 Museum of Decorative Arts, Schloßinsel 1 (S Spindlersfeld), ☏ +49 30 6 55 73 61. Tu-Su 10:00-18:00. In the Köpenick Palace. €4. 

• 🌍 Berliner Bürgerbräu (S-Bahn: S3 Friedrichshagen, Tram: 60,61 Müggelseedamm/Bölschestr.). The building of one of Berlin’s oldest breweries is a ravishingly beautiful and heritage-protected industrial monument. 
• 🌍 Spreetunnel Friedrichshagen, Josef-Nawrocki-Straße (S-Bahn: S3 Friedrichshagen, Tram: 60 Josef-Nawrocki-Str.). This heritage-protected 120-m-long pedestrian tunnel below the river Spree was the first ferro-concrete tunnel in Germany that has been built using pneumatic caissons. Two beaches can be accessed via the tunnel which are not far from its south entrance. 
• 🌍 Kleiner Müggelsee, Hinter der Düne 8 (S-Bahn: S3 Rahnsdorf or Wilhelmshagen, Ferry F23 or F24, Bus: 169 Odernheimer Str.). The "Small Müggelsee" is southeast of the "Large Müggelsee". Its sloping sand beach, which is called Strandbad Kleiner Müggelsee is one of the most popular bathing beaches in this southeast corner of Berlin, if not the most popular. 
• 🌍 Müggelsee (S-Bahn: S3 Friedrichshagen or Rahnsdorf, Tram: 61). Berlin's biggest lake and popular resort for bathing and watersports. You can also travel there by tram, which is an experience by itself. 
• 🌍 Müggelturm, Straße zum Müggelturm 1 (Bus X69 to stop "Rübezahl". Tram line 62 to "Wendenschloss" (end of the line)), ☏ +49 30 94380701. 10:00-20:00. An observation tower without an elevator in Southeast Berlin, from which you can see that there is a great deal of forest around Berlin. There is a cafe at the tower. €2. 
• 🌍 Neuvenedig ( S3  Wilhelmshagen station). A beautiful landscape of water canals and vegetation with charming little fish restaurants. 

• 🌍 Dresdner Feinbäckerei (Dresdner Café), Bölschestraße 89, ☏ +49 30 6452454, dresdnerfeinbaeckerei@web.de. Tu–Sa 05:30-18:00, Su 11:00-18:00. This tradition-rich confectionery and café which was founded in 1906 offers backed goods, cookies and cakes from Saxony as well as coffee. Regular events such as readings take place at the café. 
• 🌍 Köpenick Palace Cafe, Schlossinsel 1, ☏ +49 30 65018585. Nov-Mar: Th-Su 10:00-18:00; Oct-Apr: Tu-Su 10:00-19:00; May-Sep: Tu-Su 10:00-23:00. Both inside and outside are beautiful places to have a glass of wine or beer or a cup of coffee with a whipped cream cake. Also have menus for lunch and dinner. €4 for drinks. 

• 🌍 Arena Club, Eichenstrasse 4 (S-Bahn: S8,S9,S41,S42,S46,S47,S85 Treptower Park, U-Bahn: U1 Schlesisches Tor, Bus: 165,265,N65 Heckmannufer), ☏ +49 30 533 2030, info@arena.berlin. This techno club in a raw and run-down old boiler room of 500 m² provides the perfect atmosphere for hard industrial techno. It has one dance floor and two bars and an impressive light installation at the ceiling. Next to the club, the huge Arena Berlin compound also includes a larger multipurpose hall of 6,500 m² which hosts events such as concerts, fashion shows and conventions, a glass house for further events and a bar. 
• 🌍 Club der Visionäre, Am Flutgraben 1 (S-Bahn: S8,S9,S41,S42,S46,S47,S85 Treptower Park, U-Bahn: U1 Schlesisches Tor, Bus: 165,265,N65 Heckmannufer), ☏ +49 30 695 18942. Atmospheric club at the waterside well-known for minimal techno, house and techno-house and high-grade DJ bookings. Originally only a summer venue, it now also has an indoor winter location at the MS Hoppetosse excursion ship which is docked nearby. 
• 🌍 Else, An den Treptowers 10 (S-Bahn: S8,S9,S41,S42,S46,S47,S85 Treptower Park, Bus: 104, 165, 166, 194, 265, N65, N94 Elsenstraße/S Treptower Park), ☏ +49 30 25041426, info@else.tv. Open-air techno club and beer garden at the Elsenbrücke bridge which is made out of shipping containers and has a wooden floor and stage and a large sound system. Subsidiary of the Wilde Renate club. 
• 🌍 Freiheit Fünfzehn, Freiheit 15 (U-Bahn: S-Bahn: S3 Berlin-Köpenick, S47 Berlin-Spindlersfeld, Tram: 27, 60, 61, 62, 63, 67, 68 Freiheit, Bus: 162, 164, N67, N69, N90 Freiheit), ☏ +49 30 65887825. Club location and beautiful beer garden at the waterside in Köpenick. The party area includes a concert location on a former cargo ship on the water, a dance club called Pop.arty and a bar called Duke bar. 
• 🌍 Freischwimmer, Schlesischen Tor 2, ☏ +49 30-61 07 43 09. Bar at the river on a ponton with good food and drinks, good for chilling. 
• 🌍 Haus Zenner (Eierschale 3), Alt-Treptow 14–17 (S-Bahn: S8,S9,S41,S42,S46,S47,S85 Treptower Park, U-Bahn: U1 Schlesisches Tor, Bus: 165,166,265,N65 Alt-Treptow), ☏ +49 30 533 7370, zenner@zenner.berlin. Restaurant with beer garden and live music venue where Jazz and Swing bands perform regularly. It is one of the successors of the legendary Eierschale Jazz club which was located in Berlin-Dahlem from 1956 to 2000. 
• 🌍 Hoppetosse, Eichenstrasse 4 (S-Bahn: S8,S9,S41,S42,S46,S47,S85 Treptower Park, U-Bahn: U1 Schlesisches Tor, Bus: 165,265,N65 Heckmannufer), ☏ +49 30 695 18942. This is a club for minimal techno and house located on a permanently docked excursion ship on the Spree river, the MS Hoppetosse. It is the winter venue for the Club der Visionäre. It has one dance floor and a Martion Bullfrog sound system. 
• 🌍 Insel Berlin, Alt-Treptow 6. M 14:00-20:00; Tu 16:00-02:00; W 19:30-02:00; Th Su 14:00-02:00; F 21:00-04:00; Sa 22:00-04:00; Winter closed. Club on the Insel der Jugend island on the Spree river with three floors, music varies from reggae to techno to indie to gothic. 
• 🌍 Rummelsburg (Altes Kraftwerk Rummelsburg), Rummelsburger Landstraße 2–12 (S-Bahn: S3 Karlshorst, Tram: 21 Köpenicker Chaussee/Blockdammweg). Techno festivals, raves and beach bars right at the waterside and the old Rummelsburg power plant.