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Wedding (German der Wedding) is a district in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany and was a separate borough in northwestern Berlin until it was fused with Tiergarten and Mitte in 2001. The former borough of Wedding included the district of Gesundbrunnen.
History
In the 12th century the manor of the nobleman Rudolf de Weddinge was located on the small Panke river in the immediate vicinty of today's Nettelbeckplatz. The farmstead, which burned down more than once, remained abandoned in the forest until the 18th century.
In the mid-18th century, while Gesundbrunnen was being built up as a health resort and spa town, gambling and prostitution moved into Wedding, transforming it into a pleasure district.
The constant migration of country-dwellers into the city at the end of the 19th century converted Wedding into a working-class district. The laborers lived in cramped quarters in tenement blocks. Before World War II Wedding was known as "Red Wedding" as it was renowned for its militant, largely communist working class.
After the war, Wedding, along with Reinickendorf, belonged to the French sector of Berlin. Today, Wedding is one of the poorest areas of Berlin, with a high unemployment rate of almost 26%. Almost 17% of the population live on social welfare; 27% live below the poverty line. Foreigners make up almost 30% of the population.
Sources
Most of this information is translated from the German Wikipedia article (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin-Wedding) on Wedding. The statistics on poverty and unemployment are from [1] (http://www.bmgev.de/mieterecho/305/08-sozialstruktur.html). The statistic on foreigners is from [2] (http://www.statistik-berlin.de/pms/2a1/1998/98-02-10.html).
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