Bebelsplatz

Bebelplatz


The heart of a cultural centre envisioned by King Frederick the Great, austere Bebelplatz is infamous as the site of the first full-blown public book burning in Nazi Germany. Members of the Nazi German Students' League cheered as works by Brecht, Mann, Marx and others deemed ‘subversive’ went up in flames on 10 May 1933. Originally called Opernplatz, it was renamed for August Bebel, the co-founder of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), in 1947.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Alte Bibliothek

0.04 MILES

Berlin's first library is a baroque beauty commissioned by Frederick the Great to shelter the royal book collection. Completed in 1780, its design mimics…

2. Staatsoper Unter den Linden

0.04 MILES

Berlin’s opulent state opera was commissioned as the royal opera house by Frederick the Great and designed by his friend and master architect Georg…

3. St Hedwigs-Kathedrale Berlin

0.06 MILES

This copper-domed church (1773) was commissioned by Frederick the Great, designed by Knobelsdorff, modelled after the Pantheon in Rome and named for the…

4. Reiterdenkmal Friedrich der Grosse

0.07 MILES

Seemingly surveying his domain, Frederick the Great cuts a commanding figure on horseback in this famous 1850 monument that kept sculptor Christian Daniel…

5. Palais Populaire

0.1 MILES

Contemporary art, culture and sports activities are the focus of this gallery sponsored by Deutsche Bank and set within the updated rooms of a rococo…

6. Deutsche Bank KunstHalle

0.1 MILES

In this small, elegant exhibition hall, Deutsche Bank presents changing high-calibre exhibits of contemporary art, especially from emerging art centres in…

7. Neue Wache

0.11 MILES

This temple-like neoclassical structure (1818) was Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s first important Berlin commission. Originally a royal guardhouse and a…

8. Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

0.11 MILES

Marx and Engels studied here, and the Brothers Grimm and Albert Einstein taught here: Humboldt is Berlin’s oldest university, founded in 1810 in a palace…