Berlin/Treptow-Köpenick

Treptow-Köpenick is in the southeast of Berlin. Köpenick is known for its old town, its castle and the many lakes and forests. And for the story of The Captain of Köpenick. Treptow is more a residential district and well known to Berliners for its big park and some beautiful views of River Spree.

Understand
Treptow-Köpenick is a district of Berlin. In some parts you can visit big ex-industrial areas which are now changing to something else (i.e. cultural or shopping areas) or simply fading away.

As is common for place-names in the area, the "ow" is pronounced like a long slightly more open German o. Any other pronunciation but especially "off" marks one as an out-of-towner and a bit ignorant.

Adlershof is notable mostly for two things, these days: It contains quite a bit of TV (e.g. the popular political talk show Anne Will is shot there) and it contains the sprawling and expanding

Der Hauptmann von 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.

Get in
This area is one of the largest in Berlin entirely devoid of U-Bahn service. However, there is (as is common in the former East) quite a bit of S-Bahn and an extensive Tram network.

By S-Bahn
Treptow is best accessed by S-Bahn lines, , , and. The most important station is

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

To get to the Müggelsee take the to  or to  and if you want to round it you will have to use the  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 and then Tram 68.

To get from to the Treptow-Köpenick area,  and  are most likely your best bet.

By tram
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.

By bicycle
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.

See




Do



 * Football: FC Union Berlin play soccer in Bundesliga, Germany's top tier. Their home ground is, capacity 22,000, southeast of city centre near Berlin-Köpenick S-bahn station.
 * Football: FC Union Berlin play soccer in Bundesliga, Germany's top tier. Their home ground is, capacity 22,000, southeast of city centre near Berlin-Köpenick S-bahn station.
 * Football: FC Union Berlin play soccer in Bundesliga, Germany's top tier. Their home ground is, capacity 22,000, southeast of city centre near Berlin-Köpenick S-bahn station.
 * Football: FC Union Berlin play soccer in Bundesliga, Germany's top tier. Their home ground is, capacity 22,000, southeast of city centre near Berlin-Köpenick S-bahn station.

Buy
Bölschestraße in Friedrichshagen (S-Bahn: S3 Friedrichshagen) is a 1,3km long shopping street with many small shops and restaurants in historical Art Nouveau and Gründerzeit buildings.