Prior to 1989, the city district council had its offices on Prenzlauer Allee, at the corner of Fröbelstraße. This is where the mayor and his co-workers were located, under the control of the SED district administration, which in turn was controlled by political decisions of the state and party leadership.
In Prenzlauer Berg, too, the discrepancy between reality and political aspirations became increasingly apparent. The daily life of the residents was overshadowed by an economy plagued by scarcity, ram shackle buildings, and a distinct lack of influence on their lives and surroundings.
Since the spring of 1989 citizens had seen staged communal elections, a wave of emigration, and finally a series of arbitrary arrests in October. Meanwhile the city district council was preoccupied with the SED’s 12th party convention and preparations for the GDR’s 40th anniversary celebration. It wasn’t until October 1989 that the council issued a statement about the “gravity of the situation.”
After the fall of the Wall, the Prenzlauer Berg Round Table controlled the council. Among other things, the council was occupied until May 1990 with uncovering voter fraud during the last communal election.
The district administration was restructured according to the model used in West Berlin. The newly established district office and the district council (BVV) were tasked with the challenge of organizing the reconstruction of an entire city borough. Both were also responsible for establishing a means for handling official and unofficial Stasi collaborators in the administration and the BVV.
