
Neukölln is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin, located in the southeastern part from the city center. Known as Richardsdorp during the Middle Ages, the area experienced an influx of Bohemian Protestant refugees in 1737, and the neighborhood had 8,000 inhabitants by 1873 and 237,000 by 1910. The district was renamed from Rixdorf to Neukölln in 1912, becoming the largest village in Prussia, and it was annexed to Berlin in 1920. In September 1929, Joseph Goebbels led his Sturmabteilung (SA) thugs into the KPD stronghold of Neukölln and exchanged pistol and revolver fire with the communists. After World War II, Neukölln was included in the American occupation zone, and Neukölln became home to one of Berlin's largest immigrant communities. By 2010, Neukölln had a population of 310,283 people, of whom 38.9% were non-Germans (18% of them Turks, Arabs, and Kurds; 11% other Europeans, 4% Africans, and 6.5% East Asians and others). Neukölln was rapidly gentrified by students, artists, and young professionals avoiding higher rents in other parts of Berlin, and the northern part of the district, bordering Kreuzberg, became a fashionable area. Neukölln was a left-wing stronghold; in 2021, over 66% of its electorate voted for left-wing parties (28.7% SPD, 17.6% Die Grunen, 15% Die Linke, 2.9% Human Environment Animal Protection, 2% Die PARTEI, and 1% Klimaliste).