Berlin Alexanderplatz

Döblin's Berlin is the loud, crowded capital of the late Weimar years, mapped by its real squares, tram lines and back-street bars as an ex-convict tries to go straight and keeps being pulled under. The route runs from the Tegel prison gate in the north-west, through the Scheunenviertel and the great hub of Alexanderplatz, out to the northern asylum where the story ends.

Franz Biberkopf

Tegel Prison

Book 1

The novel opens at the gate of Tegel prison, where Franz Biberkopf is released after serving time for killing his girlfriend. He is terrified of the freedom outside and swears to himself that this time he will stay honest. Tegel is a real prison in the north-west of Berlin.

Book 1

explicit Döblin names the Tegel prison; this marks the real Justizvollzugsanstalt Tegel in Reinickendorf, still a working prison today.

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