The unknown connection: Oppenheim, my small hometown, shapes Berlin in a variety of ways

The unknown connection: Oppenheim, my small hometown, shapes Berlin in a variety of ways

Oppenheim: A small town with great history

The town of Oppenheim, from which the author originally comes, is so small that it hardly knows anyone in Berlin, his second home. When people ask him where he actually comes from, he usually only calls "from near the Frankfurt am Main" or "from nearby Mainz". Oppenheim is hardly known here in Berlin anyway, at least he thinks.

For him as an ex-Oppenheimer it was bizarre a few years ago when he saw a gigantic poster for the Rheinhessen wine-growing region at the Neukölln train station-with a photo on which you could see the vineyards in front of Oppenheim. But now it's even crazy: He has been reading and reading about Oppenheim for a few weeks. It is actually about Robert Oppenheimer and the film by Christopher Nolan. But the Jewish family name actually goes back to its hometown. Some artists also have the name, from Max Oppenheimer to Meret Oppenheim. Even the Netflix reality show "Selling Sunset" is about the luxury brokers of the Oppenheim Group in Los Angeles.

in Berlin there is even a small Oppenheimer Weg in Frohnau. And of course the Villa Oppenheim in Charlottenburg. But very few people know that: two genuine Berliners, Klaus Wowereit and Gregor Gysi, were beaten to wine knights in Oppenheim. So they are a kind of volunteer brand ambassador for the excellent Oppenheim white wine.

But there is more: one of the most famous buildings in Berlin, the Reichstag, was designed by a Oppenheim architect-Paul Wallot (1841-1912). Although Kaiser Wilhelm II is said to have hated the building, he was the breakthrough in his career for Wallot. A table on his birthplace in Oppenheim is reminiscent of him, where he is also buried. The author is happy about these connections between his world-famous adopted home of Berlin and his small, rather unknown 7500-soul hometown Oppenheim.

And who knows, maybe the film "Oppenheimer" arouses even more curiosity about the place behind the name? After all, Klaus and Gregor are already swearing on the wine. Hopefully not just to be a knight!