The Polish Pharmacy in Berlin

1670 Princess Dorothea receives from her husband the Prince a gift in the form of what was later to become known as "Dorothea’s town".

1682 The apothecary Samuel Wölcke is given the privilege of building a pharmacy in Dorothea’s town

1706 The pharmacy is given the name “Polish Pharmacy”

1710 The municipal parishes of Berlin, Kölln, Friedrichswerder, Dorothea’s town and Friedrich’s town are merged into the Residence City of Berlin

1833 Julius Edmund Schacht purchases the "Polish Pharmacy" and constructs a new building in 1838

1899 The pharmacy building is replaced by the current building designed by Alfred Breslauer

1933 With reference to the privilege certificate, and also certainly for political reasons the name "Polish Pharmacy" is changed to the "Dorothea Town Pharmacy"

1998 Redevelopment of "Haus Friedrich" on the corner of Mittelstrasse

"The Polish pharmacy" in Berlin, ca. 1900

ZLB archive, the periodical "Berliner Architekturwelt", 1901, page 88

An eagle gazes down on the passers-by in the busy street, its wings spread wide apart ready to take flight. Beneath it are the words "Polish Pharmacy". But neither a pharmacy nor anything Polish can be seen there today. We are standing in the middle of the German capital, Berlin, in front of the "Friedrich House" on the corner of Mittelstrasse in the centre of the city.

The Prussian Princess Dorothea was a very industrious lady. Nowadays she would certainly have earned the title of Manager of the Year, and probably have won it for years on end. The people who profited were those who were seeking a future in the newly defined Residence City of Berlin. Amongst the craftsmen, goldsmiths, doctors, wigmakers, tailors and locksmiths drawn to take up a new home along the River Spree, was an industrious pharmacist from Königsberg. It was in 1706 when the small bell on the entrance door gently announced the arrival of the first customer in the "Polish Pharmacy". The proud apothecary and owner of the "Polish Pharmacy" Samuel Wölcke greeted him personally with a firm handshake.

Nowadays we can only guess with a wry expression and a smile that the pharmacy got its name because the medicaments sold there came from Poland, or that Polish medicaments were renowned for their particularly high quality. However, from a historical point of view, it is much more likely that the apothecary Wölcke wanted to attract Polish customers, a clear sign of Polish life in Berlin at the time. It is however sure that the words "Polish Pharmacy" and the proud eagle on the facade of the house on Friedrichstrasse had a magic attraction not only for tourists but also for the citizens of Berlin, and promoted daydreams of the stories of Polish life in the centre of the German capital.

1845 Theodor Fontane works here for around one year as the second recipe maker. The "Dorothea Town Pharmacy" still exists today not very far from its original location, at Friedrichstraße 151 on the corner of Dorotheenstraße

The name “Polish Pharmacy” existed until 1933 when the Nazis changed its name to "Dorothea Town Pharmacy". It was only after the building was redeveloped in 1998 that the words "Polish Pharmacy" and the eagle were once more displayed on the house facade.

Adam Gusowski, December 2013

Sources:

Landesarchiv Berlin

B Rep. 012 Nr. 435

A Rep. 010-02 Nr. 2632, 2633

E Rep. 200-96 Nr. 42

Verein für die Geschichte Berlins / Martin Mende (Interview 30.10.2013)

Erika Schachinger: Die Dorotheenstadt 1673-1708. Eine Berliner Vorstadt. Köln 2001