On the 19.12.2016 a terrorist attack took place on Breitscheidplatz. Supporter of ISIS drove a truck into the Christmas Market set up on the square, killing 12 people and injuring 56. The perpetrator was killed 4 days later by the italian police.
For the 3rd installment of landmarks in Breitscheidplatz area, read further:
Breitscheidplatz in located on Kurfürstendamm, in the center of Charlottenburg.
The closest U-Bahn and S-Bahn stations are Kurfürstendamm and Zoologischer Garten.
Weltkugelbrunnen and Europa Center on Breitscheidplatz
The square became popular in the late XIX Centrury, when it was renovated, including the building of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (see my entry about it here: https://seeinberlin.com/2016/12/20/kaiser-wilhelm-memorial-church/)
After World War I Breitscheidplatz (then named Auguste-Viktoria-Platz) became popular as a destination for night life lovers, musicians and artists, living out the boheme lifestyle, thriving in the 1920’s Berlin.
It quickly became Berlin’s cultural center, with plans of turning it into german Broadway. Unfortunately, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse when the yers changed to 1930’s bringing the Nazis to power.
Breitscheidplatz became a symbol of decadence and the deprived culture that Hitler promised to eradicate such behaviour from the whole of Germany. The establishments on Breitscheidplatz were even attacked directly by Josef Goebbels in one of his speeches.
The square was heavily destroyed during the Bombing of Berlin in 1943. After World Wor II the then named Auguste-Viktoria-Platz became Breitscheidplatz, in memory of Rudolf Breitscheid, a german politician killed in Buchenwald. During the Cold War era it became a central square for West Berlin, taking over this function from Alexanderplatz, which fell of the side of the socialist East Berlin.
It also became a commercial center, with Europa Center opened in 1965 by Willy Brandt.
Today the square remains one of the most important places in Berlin, being a location for a large array of shops and restaurants, a large fountain (Weltkugelbrunnen, see: https://seeinberlin.com/2016/11/04/the-world-fountain-weltkugelbrunnen/), a designer shopping center Bikini Berlin (https://www.bikiniberlin.de), railway station and Berlin’s main zoo (http://www.zoo-berlin.de).
Breitscheidplatz is in continuous development, with some skyscrapers, so rare in Berlin, springing up within its vicinity.
Other entries on Charlottenburg:
Charlottenburger Tor – https://seeinberlin.com/2016/08/02/charlottenburger-gate-a-homige-to-berlins-past/
Berlin’s squares:
Alexanderplatz – https://seeinberlin.com/2016/02/22/alexanderplatz-part-1-east-germany-remnants-main-berlin-landmarks/
Michaelkirchplatz – https://seeinberlin.com/2016/05/31/michelkirchplatz-pt2-canal-park-hindu-springs-angels-pool-kanalpark-indische-brunnen-engelbacken/
See in Berlin 
great post
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