History UsefulNotes / Berlin

* ''Film/TheLivesOfOthers'' is set in East Berlin in 1984. It's [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour a fitting year]], given the plot.

* ''Theatre/{{Cabaret}}''. Set in UsefulNotes/WeimarGermany.

UsefulNotes/WeimarGermany's Berlin is a very vibrant and colourful place, comparable with Paris. TruthInTelevision here. Portrayals focus on the development of Cabaret culture, sexual egalitarianism and great night-life. Some fictions even portray it as a CityNoir setting. Interestingly a lot of the classic writers and directors of FilmNoir -- Creator/BillyWilder, Robert Siodmak, Creator/FritzLang -- were Berliners during the '20s and many of them admitted in interviews that their films about the American underbelly were often inspired by their memories of '20s Berlin, which came very close to resembling the exaggerated CityNoir landscape beloved in later fictions.

* ''Film/FourAgainstTheBank'' was filmed there, with some recognizable landmarks.
* ''Film/GoodByeLenin!''- the fall of UsefulNotes/EastGermany.

* ''Film/AtomicBlonde'' is an espionage/action thriller set in the city in 1989 during the last days of the Wall and the Cold War. With plenty of {{Europop}} hits on the soundtrack.

* ''Film/{{Olympia}}'', the official film of the 1936 Olympic Games, directed by Leni Riefenstahl.

Berlin, having spent much of its history divided, stands relatively unique among European cities for it's pretty hard divisions into neighborhoods. While initially more in line with other (continental) European cities, the Greater Berlin Act of [[UsefulNotes/WeimarRepublic Weimar Era Germany]] agglomerated many of the surrounding communities into the city[[note]]the modern "Mitte" District, which was formed out of the merging of all the districts of "Alt Berlin", is more or less the same territory as the city of Berlin prior to the GBA[[/note]]. Each of these newly annexed communities had developed distinct cultures and socio-economic differences, many of which have persisted well into the modern day despite [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI massive]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII wars]], being [[UsefulNotes/BerlinWall divided]] during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, and successive reforms to the city's political structure. These neighborhoods are affectionately known as ''Kiez'' to Berliners[[note]]the term ''Kiez'' literally translates as "neighborhood", but should be taken to mean "red-light district" or "nightlife district" in other parts of Germany[[/note]]. To this day, very noticeable divisions in economic status, culture, and ethnic background divide Berlin's many ''Kieze''.

* Mitte ("Center" in English): The aptly-named centermost district in Berlin. Contains the famous ''Unter den Linden'', the main thoroughfare which passes through the Brandenburg Gate and houses the major embassies, as well as Humboldt University's main campus, among many other famous places. Mitte is also the seat of the Bundesrepublik, with the Bundestag, the Bundeskanzleramt (the primary residence of the Chancellor), Bellevue Palace (the primary residence of the President), and many ministries and officesresiding here. Mitte is home to the famous Berlin Fernsehtrum (the big TV tower that dominates the skyline), residing in Alexandrplatz, it's main square. Museum Island houses -you guessed it- many of Berlin's oldest and most famous museums[[note]]sadly, about half of them are closed and likely will be for some time, as renovations need to be made to prevent structural issues[[/note]] and the Berliner Dom, the city's imposing cathedral. The Charité Medical University, among many other universities, is also located in Mitte. Mitte is a very diverse district, with peoples of an immigrant background comprising over 2/3rds of its population. Despite it's central location, many of its sub-neighborhoods offer cheap and subsidized housing, meaning that many parts of it are surprisingly blue collar. Although Mitte gets hectic during major celebrations, it's generally a pretty laid back and safe district, although Alexanderplatz is one major stomping ground for pickpockets and touts. If you visit Berlin as a tourist, you are probably going to be staying -and spending most of your time outside of clubs- in Mitte. Mitte itself can be subdivided into several zones, based on the old neighborhoods that existed pre-2001:

* Friedrichshain-Kreuzburg: Best discussed in their constituent parts:
** Kreuzburg was within West Berlin, and was a working-class and largely immigrant neighborhood for most of its history. It is home to a sizeable Turkish population, as well as many young and poor Germans. It has a decisively left-wing political streak, and the arrival of students and artists looking for cheap rentals in a city with a notorious housing crisis has started to change the culture of the district quite heavily. Kreuzburg is still notorious for crime, poverty, and drug abuse, and is generally regarded as the city's "bad neighborhood." It's rough-and-tumble nature and working class composition make it the center of Berlin's punk scene.

* Neukölln: Formerly part of the American sector and home to a very diverse population of immigrants, including many Turks and Arabs. It used to be rather poor, and often competed with Kreuzburg as the butt of jokes, but it experienced rapid gentrification in the 80s and 90s and is now more known for being a haven of counterculture (in a city that is already a haven for counterculture).

The name "Berlin" has nothing to do with bears (although their crest has one in a spot of [[JustForPun heraldic punnery]] - the city is pronounced "Bear-lin" in German), but rather stems from the Slavic word for "meadow", not a miracle if you recall its location in a glacial valley.

* ''Film/AtomicBlonde'' is an espionage/action thriller set in the city in 1989 during the last days of the Wall. With plenty of {{Europop}} hits on the soundtrack.

[[folder:Theatre]]
* ''Theatre/{{Cabaret}}''. Set in UsefulNotes/WeimarGermany.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/Hitman3'', the third mission in the game is set around a nightclub and nuclear reactor in Berlin [[spoiler: where Agent 47 hunts down ICA agents that were sent to kill him and Olivia Hall after the Constant ambushes Lucas Grey.]]
* The final level of the AlternateHistory ''VideoGame/IronStorm'' (about UsefulNotes/WorldWarI continuing for decades) is set at the Reichstag, which has been converted into a personal residence of TheEmperor of the Russo-Mongolian Empire, the Baron Ugenberg, as well as a major HQ for his forces.

----
* ''Film/{{Unknown 2011}}'' starts with the protagonist attending a Berlin science conference, before losing his memory and no one remembering who he is.
* ''Film/WeAreTheNight''.
* ''[[Literature/TheCenturyTrilogy Winter of the World]]''
* The {{Flash Forward}}s in the ''Series/{{Lost}}'' episode "The Economist" involve spies, murder, and intrigue in cold, gray Berlin.
* The only time Section 9 works with a foreign intelligence service in ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'', they help German military intelligence to track down an international terrorist in Berlin. Within the show, the city had been destroyed and rebuild a second time somewhere in the 2020s or 30s (apparently to look like a Bavarian village).

* Music/FrankZappa's album ''Music/BurntWeenySandwich'' has two instrumental tracks named ''Holiday in Berlin'', which were based on an incident during a 1968 concert in Berlin where Zappa and his band were sieged on stage because they didn't want to take up the crowd's offer to cause try to create a revolution in the streets.
* Music/LouReed's ''Music/{{Berlin}}'' is a concept album set in the city.
* Music/DavidBowie's ''Berlin'' trilogy are three albums recorded entirely or partly in Berlin (particularly the famous "Hansa-by-the-Wall" studio) and breathing a very specific city atmosphere: ''[[Music/LowDavidBowieAlbum Low]]'', ''[[Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum "Heroes"]]'', and ''Music/{{Lodger}}'' (with ''Music/StationToStation'', recorded in Los Angeles but inspired in part by Bowie's European travels, serving as an "introduction" and/or a bridge to his previous, soul/funk-influenced work, ''Music/YoungAmericans''). The title track of ''Heroes'' specifically mentions the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall. In Berlin it's almost seen as an anthem and Bowie even recorded [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXV3rlr9G04a German version of it]].
* Seeed's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYK-NfOo7b4 Dickes B]] is a love letter to their hometown.
* ''Berlin - The Wicked City'', a setting/adventure book for ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'', centering around the UsefulNotes/WeimarRepublic and detailing the Mythos elements that permeate throughout the city.
* ''Spirou in Berlin'' by Creator/{{Flix}}. It is an official ''ComicBook/SpirouAndFantasio'' issue, but made by a huge fan of the series who has also been living in Berlin for long enough to know the city quite well.
* The works of Creator/MarcUewKling who lives and works in Berlin are usually set very firmly in Berlin.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Commandos}} 3: Destination Berlin'', the finale mission of the Stalingrad arc has some of protagonists (who have been betrayed and captured during the Battle of Stalingrad during the previous mission) breaking out of a German prison located in Berlin to murder the turncoat who betrayed them and flee the area. The map allows to enter the Reichstag.
* The ''Dragonfall'' campaign of ''VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns'' is entirely set in and around a CyberPunk Berlin turned into an anarchist utopia known as "the Flux State".
* ''VideoGame/SecretFiles'': Tunguska starts the game off with Nina Kalkenkov, an average Russian woman, visiting her father, Vladimir, at his office in a Berlin museum.