Christmas markets in Berlin

There are over 80 Christmas markets in various parts of Berlin, where craftspeople demonstrate their skills and sell their wares along with many other Christmas gifts and fairground attractions. The first Christmas market took place in 1530 in Alt-Berlin.
The earliest references to events similar to Christmas markets date back to around 1530 and can be found in the municipal register of Cölln. These were first held in the streets between Petriplatz – Gertraudenstraße – Köllnischer Fischmarkt – Mühlendamm – Molkenmarkt – Poststraße and Heiligegeiststraße. According to Jutta Schneider, "stall holders were explicitly allowed to trade honey cake and other types of syrup based pastries at the Petriplatz and the fish market of Cölln in exchange for a stall fee of two Groschen a day during the Christmas season".
In 1750, the city council moved the trading, which originally lasted from 11 December to 6 January, to the Breite Straße. Later on the Christmas market expanded in the direction of the Schlossplatz and remained in the city center until 1873. Since 1872, 27 December has marked the end of the selling season. However, there have been repeated attempts to keep the market off the streets, as it led to significant traffic disruptions in the inner city. Furthermore, Breite Straße store owners feared the Christmas market would compromise their sales, saying the market was "a thoroughly obsolete institution for traders, not befitting the conditions and grandeur of the capital of the Reich anymore."
In 1873, the Lustgarten (Pleasure Garden) was chosen as the new location, but it was moved to Arkonastraße in 1891, with an interruption during World War I, because of safety considerations and the construction of the Berlin Cathedral. Between 1937 and 1945, shortly before the end of World War II, the market returned to the Lustgarten. During its peak there were up to 2000 merchants.
During the first peacetime winter in 1945, a Christmas market took place again in the Lustgarten, although it was in the middle of ruins and food and drink were restricted to specific brands.
After 1948, as a result of the division of Berlin into 2 different currency areas, Christmas markets were established in West Berlin with locations at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, in Spandau and the Town Hall in Wedding.
In East Berlin, the organizers stuck to the old location until 1974. In the years 1952 and 1953, there was a "Liliput railway" (gauge 381 mm), a forerunner of the pioneer railway Wuhlheide operated by the "Young Railway Workers" society at the Christmas market around the Lustgarten, the demolished Berlin Palace and the Schlossplatz.Around 1960, the small streets of the Christmas market on the Marx-Engels-Platz were heated by infrared lights. Even after the Palace of the Republic was completed in 1974, the entire Marx-Engels-Platz continued to serve as a venue. Additionally, between 1962 and 1968 they chose a large carpark at Alexanderplatz, an area next to the Sports Hall in the Karl-Marx-Allee was added. Apart from the district of Mitte, there were soon short-term Christmas markets in each of the former districts, mainly around each Town Hall.
A Christmas market, which occupied half of the exhibition halls in West Berlin, was held in the exhibition square in West Berlin and took place in 1983. This Christmas market, under Funkturm took place exclusively in the halls and was more like a Christmas and toy exhibition. Other places independent of the weather included: a children's theatre, a hall with cribs from all over the world and another with model trains. The market was abandoned in favour of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
Of the about 80 Christmas Markets in the districts of Berlin the following list gives an overview, including only the markets that are open for more than one week. (as of November 2014).