Niederkirchnerstrasse

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Niederkirchnerstrasse (usually written Niederkirchnerstraße in Germany), formerly Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse, is a street in Berlin, the capital of Germany. The street runs west from the Wilhelmstrasse to Stresemanstrasse. It is best known for the fact that during the years of the Nazi regime, Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse was the location of the headquarters of the Gestapo and the SS, the two main instruments of Nazi repression. The site of the Gestapo and SS headquarters is now marked by the Topography of Terror museum.

Niederkirchnerstrasse is also the site of two other Berlin landmarks, the Martin-Gropius-Bau, built by Martin Gropius in 1881 and now an exhibition centre, and the building of the Berlin House of Representatives (Abgeordneten Haus von Berlin), formerly the seat of the Prussian Landtag (legislature) and now the meeting place of the Parliament of the State of Berlin. The Communist Party of Germany was founded in this building.

The street was originally named for Prince Albrecht of Prussia, son of King Friedrich Wilhelm III, who owned a large house called the Prinz-Albrecht-Palais on the corner of this street and the Wilhelmstrasse. This building formed the nucleus of the complex of buildings which was taken over by Heinrich Himmler in 1933 and developed into the centre of Gestapo and SS administration for the whole of Germany and occupied Europe. Many political prisoners were tortured and executed at this site. The buildings were destroyed by Allied bombing in early 1945 and demolished after the war.

After World War II the street was renamed Niederkirchnerstrasse in honour of Michael Niederkirchner, a prewar trade union leader. The Berlin Wall ran along the southern side of the street between 1961 and 1989. A section of the wall is preserved at the western end of the street.