Lichtenberg
Lichtenberg () is the eleventh borough of Berlin, Germany. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it absorbed the former borough of Hohenschönhausen. Overview. The district contains the Tierpark Berlin in Friedrichsfelde, the larger of Berlin's two zoological gardens. During the period of Berlin's partition between West and East, Lichtenberg was the location of the headquarters of the Stasi, the East German state security service. Prior to the establishment of the GDR it housed the main office of the Soviet Military Administration in Berlin, and before that it was an officers' mess of the Wehrmacht. The complex is now  the location of the Stasi Museum. The Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial is on the site of the main remand prison of the Stasi. Additionally, Lichtenberg is the location of the German-Russian Museum, the historical venue of the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) on 8 May 1945. Subdivision. Lichtenberg is divided into 10 localities: History. The historic village of Lichtenberg together with neighbouring Friedrichsfelde, Karlshorst, Marzahn, Biesdorf, Hellersdorf, Kaulsdorf and Mahlsdorf was incorporated as the 17th borough of Berlin by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act. In the 1970s, the East German government had large pre-fabricated high-rise  housing estates ("Plattenbau") built in the east of the Lichtenberg borough. This area was separated off and became the new borough of Marzahn, which included Biesdorf, Hellersdorf, Kaulsdorf and Mahlsdorf in 1979. In 1986, this district in turn was split into the two boroughs of Marzahn and Hellersdorf in 1986, and again merged as Marzahn-Hellersdorf by the 2001 administrative reform. Berlin's Asiatown in the East. Lichtenberg is a developing center of Asian culture and dubbed the eastern "Asiatown" or Chinatown of Berlin. The "Dong Xuan Center" around Herzbergstrasse on former industrial grounds is a development quarter with many  different Asian businesses, various shops, food producers and wholesalers/distributors, residential areas and cultural offers. Politics. District council. The governing body of Lichtenberg is the district council ("Bezirksverordnetenversammlung"). It has responsibility for passing laws and electing the city government, including the mayor. The most recent district council election was held on 26 September 2021, and the results were as follows: !| Party ! Lead candidate ! Votes ! +/- ! Seats !| Valid votes ! 146,276 ! 98.8 ! !| Invalid votes ! 1,767 ! 1.2 ! !| Total ! 148,043 ! 100.0 ! 55 ! ±0 !| Electorate/voter turnout ! 216,202 ! 68.5 ! 8.4 ! District government. The district mayor ("Bezirksbürgermeister") is elected by the  Bezirksverordnetenversammlung, and positions in the district government ("Bezirksamt") are apportioned based on party strength. Michael Grunst of the Left was elected mayor on 16 December 2016. Since the 2021 municipal elections, the composition of the district government is as follows: Twin towns – sister cities. Lichtenberg is twinned with: