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Witzlebenstraße, 14057 Berlin

Located in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg, the Witzlebenstraße is a partially traffic-calmed street, located between Kaiserdamm, Kantstraße, Suarezstr. and the Lietzenseepark / Witzlebenplatz. The street is characterized by the almost complete preservation of old buildings and invites for a casual stroll, jog or sunbath along the shores of the Lietzensee and in the shade of the surrounding park. In the immediate vicinity are several restaurants, bistros and cafes and a variety of shopping on the Kantstraße and the Kaiserdamm. The subway station Sophie-Charlotte-Platz (U2) is only about 100m away and several bus lines are also within walking distance. Kindergartens, children's playgrounds and other leisure facilities are located in the immediate vicinity. The well-known Antikmeile Suarezstr. and the pedestrian Wilmersdorfer Straße offer further shopping opportunities nearby.

Among its most historic buildings, is the former Reich’s Military Court, built in 1908-1910 by Heinrich Kayser and Karl von Großheim. It housed the Reich Military Court (1910-1920), the Reichswirtschaftsgericht (1922-1938 / 39), the Kartellgericht (1923-1938 / 39) and the Reichskriegsgericht, the highest court of the Nazi Wehrmacht Justice (1936-1943). Source: www.berlin.de/ba-charlottenburg-wilmersdorf

The street was named on August 27th 1905 after the Prussian Lieutenant General and War and State Minister Karl Ernst Job Wilhelm von Witzleben (1783-1837). In 1781, after becoming Chief of the Military Cabinet, von Witzleben accompanied King Frederick William III, who called him his friend, on all journeys, for sightseeing and military exercises.

In 1823 General von Witzleben received from the King 20 000 Taler, with which he bought the Lietzensee and surroundings in Charlottenburg and made it a summer residence for his wife and eight children. The area is in fact a double lake, like many others in the Berlin area, a relic of the ice age, namely part of the Grunewaldseenrinne, in which the defrosting waters flowed. For millennia, the lake was untouched in the Grunewald until General von Witzleben bought the lake and the surrounding grounds.

A short time after his death, in 1840 his family sold the Charlottenburg property, to be acquired in 1899 by the terrain company Park Witzleben, which had the public Lietzenseepark built. Source: http://lietzenseepark.de/der-lietzensee

In March 2015 a political left party submitted a proposal to the Charlottenburg town hall to change the name source of the street from Mr. Witzleben to Mrs. Witzleben. The street was no longer to remember Minister of War Job von Witzleben (1783-1837), but to a distant relative of his - Margarethe von Witzleben (1853-1917). The request was rejected in the same month. Source: www.bz-berlin.de/berlin/charlottenburg-wilmersdorf