Mohrenstraße

In 1834, Leopold Freiherr von Zedlitz wrote "it has been related that the street was named for a Mohr, who was in the service of the Margrave of Schwedt, and whose lord's generosity allowed him to build a house here."[3]

In 1885, Hermann Vogt described the street as "created during the establishment of Friedrichstadt, it received its name from the Mohren that Fredrick William I received from the Dutch and quartered in this street, so they could be posted from here to the individual regiments as Janissaries."[4] Fredrick William I ascended to the throne in 1713 and is documented as having planned the "acquisition of 150 Mohren" in 1714, which dates this theory to no earlier than around 1715.[5] This explanation is an anachronism; the street had already been named in 1707.

During the era of Brandenburg-Prussian colonial rule of the Brandenburger Gold Coast, boys and young men were taken to Berlin and made to work as military musicians, Kammermohren, or valets. In 1680, Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg tasked his captain Bartelsen with bringing six slaves of ages 14, 15, and 16 years to Berlin.[6] In 1682, he ordered Captain Voss to return with twenty large slaves from 25 to 30 years and twenty boys from 8 to 16 years.[7] Contemporary works also depict the presence of people with dark skin in Berlin, such as Peter Schenk's colorized copper engraving "Schwarzer Militärmusiker am Brandenburger Hof" (1696–1701)[8] and Paul Carl Leygebe's painting of the "Tobacco roundtable of Fredrick I in Prussia", dated to 1709/1710, which depicts three young black men and a servant with a turban in Drap d'Or room of the Berlin Palace.[9]

Historian Ulrich van der Heyden offers the theory that Mohrenstraße was not named with racist or colonial connotations; instead, he proposes that it pertains to a delegation of Africans from Brandenburg's colony of Großfriedrichsburg (present-day Ghana). In van der Heyden's telling, a delegation of 26 Africans, led by Chief Janke, visited Berlin from the village of Pokesu (present-day Princes Town, Ghana) and stayed at an inn outside of Berlin's city walls. The delegation was paying a courtesy visit to Frederick William after the signing of treaties establishing the protectorate. The delegates spent four months in Berlin and visited the palace on foot. The path used by the delegation acquired the name "Mohrenweg" (Mohr-Way).[10]

Schultz's map of Berlin from 1688.

Christian Kopp, an activist for Berlin Postkolonial e. V., suggests that Ulrich van der Heyden fails to provide evidence supporting his theory. Kopp states that Chief Janke visited Berlin accompanied only by his valet, to subordinate himself to Fredrick William. Kopp states that this visit occurred in 1684, over twenty years before the official naming of Mohrenstraße, citing Richard Schück; no documentation attests to Janke's lodgings. The city plan drawn by Johann Bernhardt Schultz in 1688 does not depict a "Mohrenweg" or inn directly outside the city walls.[11]

Mohrenstraße is shown on the reconstructed city plan of 1710.

The street was creating around the year 1700 during the construction of Friedrichstadt, now a historical neighborhood in central Berlin. The street originally ended at Mauerstraße. Hausvogteiplatz, at the western end of the street, was the center of the German ready-made garment industry prior to the World War II.[12]

At the end of May 1707, Mohrenstraße was officially named, along with the other streets in Friedrichstadt. This is sourced to a history of Friedrichstadt written by Joachim Ernst Berger (1666–1734), who was a Lutheran pastor from 1697–1732 in Friedrichstadt, containing the following note: "In 1707, at the end of the aforementioned month [May], the alley were for the benefit of the people.") The 9th street name listed is "Mohren-Straße".[13]

Mohrenstraße appears on Abraham Guibert Dusableau's 1723 map of Berlin.

Other sources support the naming during the reign of Friedrich I (1688–1713), who was also ruler of the West African colony of Groß Friedrichsburg (present day Ghana) and who planned the constructure of Friedrichstadt. Christoph Friedrich Nicolai wrote about the area encompassing Mohrenstraße and Gendarmenmarkt: "The first construction took place in 1688, from what is today Kronenstraße to Jägerstraße, on the grounds of the former princely folwark and gardens [...] In 1706, the streets received their names."[14] The Berlin city plan of 1710, which was a later reconstruction, mentions the street by name.

The street was later extended to connect to Zietenplatz and the adjacent Wilhelmplatz.

From 1837-1838, Karl Marx lived at Mohrenstraße 17 during his studies. The house was fitted with a memorial plaque in September 1929, by request of the SPD, which was removed in July 1933 after the Nazis came to power.[15]

The fifth "renaming party", held in 2018, protesting against the name "Mohrenstraße".

In August 2020, the Berlin borough assembly announced that Mohrenstraße would be renamed Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Straße, honoring Anton Wilhelm Amo, the first African to receive a doctorate from a German university.[1]