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The synagogue, built in 1904, is one of the few Jewish places of worship to have survived “Reichskristallnacht” on 9 November 1938, the violent destruction of Jewish shop premises by the Nazis. The historic interior of the synagogue was built from red bricks in the shape of a basilica. Today it is part of an apartment block.

The ruins of the former Wilhelm-Einkaufspassagen, one of Berlin’s most elegant shopping centres dating back to the turn of the 20th century, have been transformed by artists into an alternative arts centre. It now houses workshops and cafés and offers a regular programme of events.

This small zoological garden is situated in the middle of a beautiful park next to Friedrichsfelde Palace. The animal park is particularly worth visiting for the lions and Siberian tigers, which are kept in rocky outdoor enclosures. The elephant house, too, attracts many visitors. Matibi, a baby elephant, is the star among the pachyderms.

After 1934, three terrifying Nazi institutions had their headquarters in this area: the security service (Sicherheitsdienst, SD) was based at Wilhelmstraße 102 in the Prinz-Albrecht-Palais; the school of arts and crafts at Prinz-Albrecht-Straße 8 was occupied by the Gestapo; while Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, resided next door at No. 9, at the Hotel Prinz Albrecht. After World War II, all the buildings were bulldozed except for the cellars where, in 1933–45, prisoners had been interrogated and tortured. An exhibition and a documentation centre (under construction) chronicle the history of the area.

Treptower Park, established in the 19th century as a recreation area for Berlin’s working-class communities, is today best known for the giant Sowjetisches Ehrenmal (Soviet Memorial). In April 1945, 5,000 Red Army soldiers, who died during the liberation of Berlin, were buried here. Beyond the mass graves rises a 12-m (39-ft) bronze statue of a Russian soldier, holding a child in one arm and a sword in the other, which he has used to destroy a swastika.

This rambling park was set up as a recreational space for workers in Kreuzberg in 1888–94 to plans by Hermann Mächtig. It has an artificial waterfall, and the Neo-Gothic Schinkel memorial at the top of Kreuzberg, 66 m (216 ft) high, commemorates Prussian victory in the Wars of Liberation against Napoleon.

This is one of Berlin’s newest museums and focuses on everything connected with style and design. Based behind the redbrick façade of a former power station, the museum presents exhibitions on furniture, product and interior design, with mainly contemporary themes and featuring artists such as Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright. Emphasis is placed on Scandinavian design, and the museum also attempts to forge links between Eastern and Western Europe.

Berlin’s oldest landscaped gardens, the people’s park, was designed by Joseph Peter Lenné in 1840. Today it provides an oasis of tranquillity in the middle of the densely built-up district of Friedrichshain. World War II has left its traces here, too. Kleiner and Großer Bunkerberg – two heaps of rubble (the latter nicknamed “Mount Rubble”) reaching a height of 78 m (256 ft) – were piled up here after the war. Less traumatic is the Märchenbrunnen, a charming Neo-Baroque fairy-tale fountain created by Ludwig Hoffmann. It is decorated with 106 richly ornamented figures from popular fairy tales.