Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome to Berlin, the city that is so much more than the setting of your wildest dreams and worst nightmares. After years of relative isolation during the post-war era, the city has re-emerged as a major crossroads. Berlin is a frontier boom town, a nigh inconceivably vibrant cultural metropolis, the capital of reunified Germany, and a natural oasis, all rolled into one. The city has made enormous strides towards reinventing itself as the iconic European city of the 21st century, while taking care not to leave its tragic history behind. Berlin is an apt locale for thinking about “Law and Society in the 21st Century: Transformations, Resistances, Futures,” since many evoke the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 as the symbolic beginning of the 21st century. Berlin and Humboldt University, our host institution, may go down in history once more – this time as the site of the largest LSA/RCSL Joint Conference ever. Come and help make it one of the best!

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The Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (“HU”), is a relative latecomer to the European university scene. Founded in 1810 as Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität under the guiding humanist vision of Wilhelm von Humboldt, who insisted upon the unity of teaching and research, the university was renamed in 1949.
The law faculty was one of the original four faculties at Humboldt; today it is one among eleven. The main venues for the LSA/RCSL meetings are the HU Main Building and the HU Law Faculty, plus a nearby restored annex (“Seminar”) building. The two main historical buildings are located across from one another on Unter den Linden, Berlin’s most famous boulevard. Linden refers to the trees, which are called “lime” trees in the Queen’s English. (Hitler, who hated Berlin, had the trees cut down.)

The HU Main Building is lodged in the 18^th century palace of Prince Heinrich of Prussia, while the Law Faculty is located in the royal library from the same era. (Both buildings were rebuilt after sustaining heavy wartime damage.) The baroque Law Faculty building sits on Bebelplatz, scene of the May 1933 book burning, and now the site of Israeli sculptor Micha Ullman’s monument Library.

A few doors down from the HU Main Building is the Zeughaus (Arsenal) – now the Museum of German History – where the Nazis organized an exhibit of Entartete Kunst (“Degenerate Art”) in 1938. To the great dismay of the Nazis, who intended the paintings to create revulsion amongst the population, the Berliners loved the art, and thronged to see the exhibition. A few blocks away is Peter Eisenmann’s new “Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.” Also within easy reach by foot are Checkpoint Charlie, the Brandenburg Gate, and the ancient Babylonian Gate of Ishtar, to name a few.

Hegel, Mommsen, and von Savigny taught at Humboldt’s pre-war incarnation, as did Carl Schmitt (startingn 1933, thus coinciding with Hitler’s rise to power), while Heine, Marx, Engels, and Weber studied there.

C. Schmitt

Hegel

von Savigny

Mommsen

Karl Marx

H. Heine

Max Weber

F. Engels

During the post-war division of Germany, Humboldt continued to operate as a university.   After reunification, only a few members of the DDR (German Democratic Republic) faculty were able to keep their jobs. In the law faculty, where the influence of Marxist-Leninist  teaching was particularly strong, all but three professors were “retired” after 1990.

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The Joint Meeting takes place in Berlin’s Mitte (“middle”) district, which is the geographical center of an enormous conurbation that covers 889 sq. km, or roughly 340 square miles. Nearly 40% of this terrain consists of forest or park; and just beyond the city limits is the (former East German) state (Land) of Brandenburg, with its relatively unspoiled natural beauty and villages. The city-state of Berlin itself has around 3.5 million residents, according to official statistics, which makes it the second most populous city in the EU. You would not know it, however, by the pace of life, which is mellow for a city of its size. Perhaps owing to outstanding public transportation, its flat, wide streets, and the many parks and lakes, Berlin is a haven for pedestrians, bicyclists, and beach lovers. The area around our meeting site – which until 1990 was “downtown East Berlin” and the showcase of the Eastern Bloc – tends to be a bit more congested, largely because it is Berlin’s main (though by no means only) tourist destination. Wander a bit away from Unter den Linden and the major sites, and you will discover a city of many faces, ideal for exploring by foot both day and night. Or hop on a boat, when you can’t take another step, and experience a few of Berlin’s 200 kilometers (120 miles) of navigable waterways.

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There is too much history, art, culture and nature in and around Berlin to summarize here. Check the local Joint Meeting website now and again ( http://www.lsa-berlin.org) for information about cultural events in late July and early August, suggested readings, recommended films, and the Berlin Guide that is currently under preparation. While much of the local website is in German, the English content is expanding, and will be filled out by summer. And for those who really can’t wait to experience Berlin, you don’t have to! Check out the Berlin web cam from Potsdamer Platz.