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In a quiet, dignified ceremony near the Bayerische Platz,
where before World War II many prominent Jews once lived
in the city, Albert Einstein among them, a street has
finally won back its old name.
The Nazis ordered Haberland strasse changed to
Noerdlinger strasse in 1938 because the man it was named
after - saloman Haberland - was a Jew.
Now 58 years later, a wrong has been set right. The
street again bears Mr Habeland's name. Family
descendants, presently living In Sweden, returned to
Berlin this week, to attend the occasion which inevitably
brought back a flood of emotional memories.
"We are happy it's finally happened," said Ms Elisabeth
Ziemer, the city's Schoeneberg district mayor, who
admitted an initiative by descendants of the Haberland
family was instrumental in the street getting back its
former name.
Ralph Hermanns, the great grandson of Mr Haberland, who
recently published a book about the history of Berlin's
once predominantly Jewish Bayerische Viertel (quarter),
nodded in silent agreement, at Ms Zeimer's comment, tears
welling up in his eyes.
"You know," he said, "putting up a plaque denoting that a
person once lived in a place, doesn't really amount to
much. But giving a street a person's name is different.
A street's a living thing."
"The move has come late, but not too late to have
significance. I'm happy to see it happen," he said.
Mr Haberland, a turn-of-the-century building
entrepreneur, masterminded the construction of the city's
elegant Bayerischer and Victoria Louise squares, and
Berlin's more famous Hertic, Wertheim, Israel and
Karstadt department stores before World War I.
In 1906, Berlin had honoured him by naming a street after
him near Bayerische Platz. A marble bust of his stood at
one end of the road.
But 32 years later the national socialists ordered all
streets bearing the names of famous German Jews changed.
Haberland street was divided into Noerdlinger and
Treuchtlingen strassen.
After World War II, the Berlin authorities were slow in
reacting to calls that streets should be given back their
old names.
Some Berliners are openly hostile so such moves. Others
claim that street renaming as such is an unnecessary
inconvenience.
In the Wilmserdorf district of, Berlin, plans to change
the name of a street bearing the name of a prewar anti-
Semitic theologian called Reinhold Seeberg, aroused
instant protest from residents.
They claimed it was unnecessary and meant changing their
letter. heading again.
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