Pankow-Heinersdorf

Berlin-Heinersdorf is a historic neighborhood in Berlin's Pankow district, with roots reaching back to the 13th century. Founded as a linear village along a single street, it was first mentioned in documents in 1319 and was under the rule of the Holy Spirit Hospital for a long time. The historic village center, which clusters around the church, has been largely preserved, while from 1900 onward the area expanded northward with low-density development. In 1920, the formerly independent rural municipality was incorporated into Berlin under the Greater Berlin Act. Today, a mix of old farmhouses, settlement houses and newer construction shapes the look of the neighborhood, whose demographics have also changed with the opening of a large refugee shelter in 2016.

For visitors, Heinersdorf offers a number of architectural and cultural highlights. At its center stands the village church, built around 1300, which has a Renaissance baptismal font from 1621 and an organ from 1935. Other notable buildings include the old fire pump house from 1750, a horse dealer's residence from 1780, and the water tower from 1911, which was designed together with the community school by Richard Ermisch. The Khadija Mosque, the first newly built mosque in eastern Berlin, is also a striking landmark in the neighborhood. The municipal cemetery, laid out in 1890, is the resting place of former mayor Friedrich Tinius, among others, and also contains a collective grave site for victims of war and tyranny.

Connections to Berlin's transit network are good. The station on the Stettin Railway, opened in 1893, is now served by the S-Bahn, while the MetroTram line M2 has connected the neighborhood with Alexanderplatz since 2007. This line is part of a long streetcar history that began in Heinersdorf in 1911. In the future, an extension of the tram line is planned to the new development in Blankenburg Süd. The neighborhood is also known for its literary connections: the writer Mathias Christiansen has set several crime novels in authentic locations in Heinersdorf.