“Palme”

Municipal shelter

The homeless asylum at Fröbelstraße 15 in Prenzlauer Berg was the largest in the city from 1886 to 1940.

In the vernacular it was called “Palme” because in the early years a potted palm tree is said to have stood in the entrance area. The huge brick complex stretches for about 200 meters along Fröbelstraße. It included 40 dormitories for single homeless people, shelters for homeless families, rooms for school lessons, a washhouse and a disinfection facility. Overnight stays in one of the dormitories were not allowed for more than five consecutive nights, and people could have their clothes washed and disinfected. In the morning and in the evening there was a plate of flour soup and a piece of bread.

Those who lost their jobs often faced financial ruin and risked becoming homeless. With her art, Käthe Kollwitz tried to give poverty a face.

Constant overcrowding and sometimes catastrophic conditions in the house made the “Palme” a symbol of oppressive poverty as early as 1900 and especially in the late 1920s during the Great Depression. At times, 5000 people per night sought refuge here.

Karl and Käthe Kollwitz’s apartment on Weißenburger Strasse was not far away. Kollwitz went to the “Palme” again and again; she was particularly interested in the fates of women. In the lithograph “Urban Shelter” from 1926, she captured a visibly exhausted mother who, despite her fatigue, presses her two children protectively against her.

In 1940, the asylum was converted into a hospital. Today it is a medical care center (MVZ). Memorial plaques in front of the house commemorate the “Palme”.