Magdeburg
The town's symbol - Cathedral of Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Coordinates	52°8′0″N 11°37′0″E / 52.133333°N 11.616667°E / 52.133333; 11.616667Coordinates: 52°8′0″N 11°37′0″E / 52.133333°N 11.616667°E / 52.133333; 11.616667
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Saxony-Anhalt
District	Urban district
City subdivisions	40 boroughs
Lord Mayor	Lutz Trümper (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area	200.95 km2 (77.59 sq mi)
Elevation	43 m  (141 ft)
Population	231,525 (31 December 2010)[1]
- Density	1,152 /km2 (2,984 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	MD
Postal codes	39104-39130
Area code	0391
Website	www.magdeburg.de

Magdeburg (German pronunciation: [ˈmakdəbʊrk] ( listen); Low Saxon: Meideborg, [ˈmaˑɪdebɔɐx]), is the largest city^[2] and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe.

Emperor Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor, lived for most of his reign in the town and was buried in the cathedral after his death. Magdeburg's version of German town law, known as Magdeburg rights, spread throughout Central and Eastern Europe. The city is also well known for the 1631 Sack of Magdeburg, which hardened Protestant resistance during the Thirty Years' War.

Magdeburg is the site of two universities, the Otto-von-Guericke University and the Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences.

Nowadays Magdeburg is a traffic junction as well as an industrial and trading centre. The production of chemical products, steel, paper and textiles are of particular economic significance, along with Mechanical engineering and plant engineering, Ecotechnology and life-cycle management, Health management and Logistics. Along with ten other cities in Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia, Magdeburg is a member of the Central German Metropolitan Region.

In 2005 Magdeburg celebrated its 1200th anniversary.

View of Magdeburg,from the tower of the Johanniskirche

History[link]

Kaiser Otto I and his wife Edith arrive near Magdeburg, in a 19th-century painting

Founded by Charlemagne in 805 as Magadoburg (probably from Old High German magado for big, mighty and burga for fortress'^[3]), the town was fortified in 919 by King Henry I the Fowler against the Magyars and Slavs. In 929 the city went to Edward the Elder's daughter Edith, through her marriage to Henry's son Otto I, as a Morgengabe — a Germanic customary gift received by the new bride from the groom and his family after the wedding night. Edith loved the town and often lived there; at her death she was buried in the crypt of the Benedictine abbey of Saint Maurice, later rebuilt as the cathedral. In 937, Magdeburg was the seat of a royal assembly. Otto I also continually returned to it and was also buried in the cathedral. He granted the abbey the right to income from various tithes and to corvée labour from the surrounding countryside.

The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was founded in 968 at the synod of Ravenna; Adalbert of Magdeburg was consecrated as its first archbishop. The archbishopric under Tilly included the bishoprics of Havelberg, Brandenburg, Merseburg, Meissen, and Zeitz-Naumburg. The archbishops played a prominent role in the German colonization of the Slavic lands east of the Elbe river.

In 1035 Magdeburg received a patent giving the city the right to hold trade exhibitions and conventions, which form the basis of the later family of city laws known as the Magdeburg rights. These laws were adopted and modified throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Visitors from many countries began to trade with Magdeburg.

Magdeburger Reiter, 1240, the first equestrian statue north of the Alps

In the 13th century, Magdeburg became a member of the Hanseatic League. With more than 20,000 inhabitants Magdeburg was one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire. The town had an active maritime commerce on the west (towards Flanders), with the countries of the North Sea, and maintained traffic and communication with the interior (for example Brunswick). The citizens constantly struggled against the archbishop, becoming nearly independent from him by the end of the 15th century.

In 1524 Martin Luther was called to Magdeburg, where he preached and caused the city's defection from Catholicism. The Protestant Reformation had quickly found adherents in the city, where Luther had been a schoolboy. Emperor Charles V repeatedly outlawed the unruly town, which had joined the Alliance of Torgau and the Schmalkaldic League. Because it had not accepted the Augsburg Interim (1548), the city, by the emperor's commands, was besieged (1550–1551) by Maurice, Elector of Saxony, but it retained its independence. The rule of the archbishop was replaced by that of various administrators belonging to Protestant dynasties. In the following years Magdeburg gained a reputation as a stronghold of Protestantism and became the first major city to publish the writings of Luther. In Magdeburg, Matthias Flacius and his companions wrote their anti-Catholic pamphlets and the Magdeburg Centuries, in which they argued that the Roman Catholic Church had become the kingdom of the Anti-Christ.

In 1631, during the Thirty Years' War, imperial troops under Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, stormed the city and committed a massacre, killing about 20,000 inhabitants and burning the town in the sack of Magdeburg. The city had withstood a first siege in 1629 by Albrecht von Wallenstein. After the war, a population of only 400 remained. According to the Peace of Westphalia (1648), Magdeburg was assigned to Brandenburg-Prussia after the death of the current administrator, August of Saxe-Weissenfels, as the semi-autonomous Duchy of Magdeburg; this occurred in 1680.

In the course of the Napoleonic Wars, the fortress surrendered to French troops in 1806. The city was annexed to the French-controlled Kingdom of Westphalia in the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit. King Jérôme appointed Count Heinrich von Blumenthal as mayor. In 1815, after the Napoleonic Wars, Magdeburg was made the capital of the new Prussian Province of Saxony. In 1912, the old fortress was dismantled, and in 1908, the municipality Rothensee became part of Magdeburg,

Magdeburg's centre has a number of Stalinist neo-classicist buildings.

Magdeburg was heavily bombed by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. The RAF bombing raid on the night of 16 January 1944, destroyed much of the city. The official death toll was 16,000 - however, at most it is now believed that between 2000-4000 citizens were killed.^[4]

Near the end of World War II, the city of about 340,000 became capital of the Province of Magdeburg. The Magdeburg/Rothensee plant that produced synthetic oil from lignite coal was a target of the Oil Campaign of World War II. The impressive Gründerzeit suburbs north of the city, called the Nordfront, were destroyed as well as the city's main street with its Baroque buildings. Post-war the area was part of the Soviet Zone of Occupation and many of the remaining pre-World War II city buildings were destroyed, with only a few buildings near the cathedral restored to their pre-war state. Prior to the reunification of Germany, many surviving Gründerzeit buildings were left uninhabited and, after years of degradation, waiting for demolition. From 1949 on until German reunification on 3 October 1990, Magdeburg belonged to the German Democratic Republic.

In 1990 Magdeburg became the capital of the new state of Saxony-Anhalt within reunified Germany. The city centre was rebuilt almost exclusively in a modern style.

Main sights[link]

Interior of the Cathedral of Magdeburg, looking towards the grave of Otto I

The Jahrtausendturm (English: millennium tower)

Cathedral[link]

One of Magdeburg's most impressive buildings is the Lutheran Cathedral of Saints Catherine and Maurice with a height of 104 m (341.21 ft), making it the highest church building of eastern Germany. It is notable for its beautiful and unique sculptures, especially the "Twelve Virgins" at the Northern Gate, the depictions of Otto I the Great and his wife Editha as well as the statues of St Maurice and St Catherine. The predecessor of the cathedral was a church built in 937 within an abbey, called St. Maurice. Emperor Otto I the Great was buried here beside his wife in 973. St. Maurice burnt to ashes in 1207. The exact location of that church remained unknown for a long time. The foundations were rediscovered in May 2003, revealing a building 80 m (262.47 ft) long and 41 m (134.51 ft) wide.

The construction of the new church lasted 300 years. The cathedral of Saints Catherine and Maurice was the first Gothic church building in Germany. The building of the steeples was completed as late as 1520.

While the cathedral was virtually the only building to survive the massacres of the Thirty Years' War, it nevertheless suffered damage in World War II. It was soon rebuilt and completed in 1955.

The square in front of the cathedral (sometimes called the Neuer Markt, or "new marketplace") was occupied by an imperial palace (Kaiserpfalz), which was destroyed in the fire of 1207. The stones from the ruin were used for the building of the cathedral. The presumed remains of the palace were excavated in the 1960s.

Other sights[link]

• Unser Lieben Frauen Monastery (Our Lady), 11th century, containing the church of St. Mary. Today a museum for Modern Art. Home of the National Collection of Small Art Statues of the GDR (Nationale Sammlung Kleinkunstplastiken der DDR).
• The Magdeburger Reiter ("Magdeburg equestrian", 1240), the first equestrian sculpture north of the alps. It probably depicts the Emperor Otto I.
• Town hall (1698). This building had stood on the market place since the 13th century, but it was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War; the new town hall was built in a Renaissance style influenced by Dutch architecture. It was renovated and re-opened in Oct 2005.
• Landtag; the seat of the government of Saxony-Anhalt with its Baroque façade built in 1724.
• monuments depicting Otto von Guericke (1907), Eike von Repkow and Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben.
• Ruins of the greatest fortress of the former Kingdom of Prussia.
• Rotehorn-Park.
• Elbauenpark containing the highest wooden structure in Germany.
• St. John Church (Johanniskirche)
• The Gruson-Gewächshäuser, a botanical garden within a greenhouse complex
• The Magdeburg Water Bridge, Europe's longest water bridge
• "Die Grüne Zitadelle" or The Green Citadel of Magdeburg, a large, pink building of a modern architectural style designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser and completed in 2005.
• Jerusalem Bridge.

Magdeburg is one of the major towns along the Elbe Cycle Route (Elberadweg).

Venue Places[link]

The Bördelandhalle

Lake-Stage at Elbauenpark

(Selection)

• Bördelandhalle – biggest multipurpose hall in Saxony-Anhalt
• AMO - culture and congresshouse
• Altes Theater am Jerichower Platz – former theater, used for party's and congresses
• Stadthalle - Concerthall
• St.-Johannis Church
• St. Petri Church with stained glass by Charles Crodel
• Lake-Stage at Elbauenpark
• Messe-Magdeburg
• Paulus Church
• Concerthall-„Georg Philipp Telemann“ at "Kloster unser lieben Frauen"
• Projekt 7 – Nightclub at the Otto-von-Guericke-University campus. Concerts with Indie-Pop and Rockmusic
• Factory – former factoryhall, German and international pop-, rock-, metal-, and indie-bands artists will be featured
• Kulturwerk Fichte – several types of venues and conferences
• Prinzzclub – In-Club at Halberstädter Straße – house-, electro- and blackmusic-venues
• Festung Mark – Part of the former town fortification, now rebuilt for party's and conventions
• Kunstkantine – Factory canteen, monthly electro music party's
• Funpark-Magdeburg – Disco complex with several music areas
• Kiste – Student club by the medical faculty of the University
• Feuerwache – Old Fire station - rebuilt for venues

University[link]

The Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg (German: Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg) was founded in 1993 and is one of the youngest universities in Germany. The university in Magdeburg has about 13,000 students in nine faculties. There are 11,700 papers published in international journals from this institute.

The Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences was founded in 1991. There are 30 direct study programs in five departments in Magdeburg and two departments in Stendal. The university has more than 130 professors and approximately 4,500 students at Magdeburg and 1,900 at Stendal.

Culture and Sports[link]

Magdeburg has a proud history of sports teams, with football proving the most popular. 1. FC Magdeburg currently play in the Regionalliga Nord. The now defunct clubs SV Victoria 96 Magdeburg and Cricket Viktoria Magdeburg were among the first football clubs in Germany. 1. FC Magdeburg is the only East German football club to have won a European club football competition. There is also the very successful handball team, SC Magdeburg Gladiators who are the first German team to win the EHF Champions League.

City is portrayed on the map of Medieval II: Total War as a rebel castle.

People[link]

• Jessica Böhrs, German actress and singer, known for being in the movie Eurotrip
• Richard Falckenberg (Friedrich Otto) (1851–1920), a German philosophy historian, born here.
• Otto von Guericke (1602–1686), mayor and inventor of the Magdeburg hemispheres. The Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg is named after him
• Carl Gustav Friedrich Hasselbach (1809–1882), mayor and member of the Prussian House of Lords
• Antje_Harvey- Olympic biathlon athlete
• Georg Kaiser (1878–1945), writer
• Bill Kaulitz, Singer/Songwriter/Producer of Tokio Hotel
• Tom Kaulitz, Guitarist/Songwriter/Producer of Tokio Hotel
• Stefan Kretzschmar, retired professional handball player and Olympic medallist
• Georg Listing, Bassist of Tokio Hotel
• Johann Carl Simon Morgenstern (1770–1852), the philologist who coined the term Bildungsroman
• Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard (born 1942), German biologist, won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1991 and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995
• Richard Oelze (1900–1980), painter
• Erich Ollenhauer (1901–1963), leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1952-1963.
• Menahem Pressler (born 1923), Pianist
• Ernst Reuter (1889–1953), mayor of Magdeburg 1931-1933, then mayor of West Berlin from 1948 to 1953.
• Gustav Schäfer, Drummer of Tokio Hotel
• Margarete Schön (1895–1985), stage and film actress
• Kurt Singer, a philosopher
• Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (1730–1794), an American patriot
• Christoph Christian Sturm (1740–1786), German preacher and author, who wrote the majority of his devotional works here
• Bruno Taut (1880–1938), city architect 1921-1923, completed two housing projects in Magdeburg
• Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767), composer
• Klaus Thunemann (born 1937), bassoon professor
• Tokio Hotel, German Rock band, originated here
• Henning von Tresckow (1901–1944), Major General in the German Wehrmacht, active in the military resistance
• Camillo Walzel (1829–1895) librettist and theatre director, who wrote under the pseudonym F Zell
• Dejan Zavec, Slovenian welterweight boxer, IBF Welterweight Champion
• Ana Nova, German Pornographic Actress

International relations[link]

Magdeburg is twinned with:

• Braunschweig, Germany
• Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Nashville, United States
• Le Havre, France
• Zaporizhia, Ukraine
• Harbin, People's Republic of China
• Radom, Poland

References[link]

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Magdeburg

• Official website (English)
• Official Student Community WebUni
• Student Community Unihelp
• IKUS - the intercultural Students of Magdeburg (English) (German)
• History society of Magdeburg and surround e.V.
• tramway in Magdeburg (English) (German)

v t e Capitals of states of the Federal Republic of Germany Capitals of area states Dresden (Saxony) Düsseldorf (North Rhine-Westphalia) Erfurt (Thuringia) Hanover (Lower Saxony) Kiel (Schleswig-Holstein) Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt) Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate) Munich (Bavaria) Potsdam (Brandenburg) Saarbrücken (Saarland) Schwerin (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) Stuttgart (Baden-Württemberg) Wiesbaden (Hesse) Citystates1 Berlin City of Bremen (State of Bremen) Hamburg Capitals of former states Freiburg im Breisgau (South Baden, 1949–1952) Stuttgart (Württemberg-Baden, 1949–1952) Tübingen (Württemberg-Hohenzollern, 1949–1952) 1 Unlike the mono-city states Berlin and Hamburg the State of Bremen consists of two cities, thus state and capital are not identical.

v t e Urban and rural districts in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany Urban districts Dessau-Roßlau Halle (Saale) Magdeburg Rural districts Altmarkkreis Salzwedel Anhalt-Bitterfeld Börde Burgenlandkreis Harz Jerichower Land Mansfeld-Südharz Saalekreis Salzlandkreis Stendal Wittenberg Former districts Anhalt-Zerbst Aschersleben-Staßfurt Bernburg Bitterfeld Bördekreis Burgenlandkreis Halberstadt Köthen Mansfelder Land Merseburg-Querfurt Ohrekreis Quedlinburg Saalkreis Sangerhausen Schönebeck Weißenfels Wernigerode

v t e Capitals of the former East German Bezirke East Berlin · Cottbus · Dresden · Erfurt · Frankfurt (Oder) · Gera · Halle · Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) · Leipzig · Magdeburg · Neubrandenburg · Potsdam · Rostock · Schwerin · Suhl

v t e Members of the Hanseatic League by Quarter Chief cities are highlighted; Free Imperial Cities of the Holy Roman Empire are shown in italics. Wendish Quarter Lübeck Anklam · Demmin · Greifswald · Hamburg · Kolberg (Kołobrzeg) · Lüneburg · Rostock · Rügenwalde (Darłowo) · Stettin (Szczecin) · Stolp (Słupsk) · Stockholm · Stralsund · Visby · Wismar Saxon Quarter Brunswick Berlin · Bremen · Erfurt · Frankfurt an der Oder · Goslar · Magdeburg Baltic Quarter Danzig (Gdańsk) Breslau (Wrocław) · Dorpat (Tartu) · Elbing (Elbląg) · Königsberg (Kaliningrad) · Kraków · Reval (Tallinn) · Rīga · Thorn (Toruń) Westphalian Quarter Cologne* Dortmund* Deventer · Groningen · Kampen · Münster · Osnabrück · Soest Principal Kontore Bryggen (Bergen) · Hanzekantoor (Bruges, Antwerp†) · Steelyard (London) · Peterhof (Novgorod) Subsidiary Kontore Bishop's Lynn · Falsterbo · Ipswich · Kovno (Kaunas) · Malmö · Polotsk · Pskov Other cities Bristol · Boston · Damme · Leith · Herford · Hull · Newcastle · Stargard · Yarmouth · York * Cologne and Dortmund were both capital of the Westphalian Quarter at different times. † Antwerp gained importance once Bruges became inaccessible due to the silting of the Zwin channel.

Joachim Streich

Personal information
Date of birth	(1951-04-13) April 13, 1951 (age 61)
Place of birth	Wismar, East Germany
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position	Striker
Youth career
1957–1963	Aufbau Wismar
1963–1967	TSG Wismar
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1967–1975	Hansa Rostock	141	(58)
1975–1985	1. FC Magdeburg	237	(171)
National team
1969–1984	East Germany	102	(55)
Teams managed
1985–1990	1. FC Magdeburg
1990–1991	Eintracht Braunschweig
1991–1992	1. FC Magdeburg
1996–1997	FSV Zwickau
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Olympic medal record
Competitor for  East Germany
Men’s Football
Bronze	1972 Munich	Team Competition

Joachim Streich (born April 13, 1951 in Wismar) is a former East German footballer, who won the bronze medal with East Germany at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.

He played as a striker for Aufbau Wismar (1957 - 1963), then TSG Wismar (1963 - 1967), Hansa Rostock (1967 - 1975) and 1. FC Magdeburg (1975 - 1985).

Between 1969 and 1984 he was capped 102 times for East Germany, scoring 53 goals. For a long time he was considered a member of the FIFA Century Club, but when FIFA changed regulations to no longer include games at the Olympic Games, four of his matches were deleted from his official FIFA record and he dropped out. The German Football Association still lists Streich with 102 caps on his website.^[1]

Streich is regarded as one of the best players for East Germany and holds both the records for most appearances and goals scored in the national team.^[2] Streich took part in the 1974 FIFA World Cup, scoring 2 goals in 4 matches.^[3]

During his career he played 378 games in the DDR-Oberliga for FC Hansa Rostock and 1. FC Magdeburg, scoring a record 229 goals.^[4] This tally earned him the top scorer award four times.^[5] He also scored 17 goals in 42 European matches for Rostock (4/0) and Magdeburg (38/17). In 1979 and 1983 he won the East German Footballer of the Year award.

Following the end of his playing career he managed 1. FC Magdeburg, Eintracht Braunschweig and FSV Zwickau.

Honours[link]

• FDGB-Pokal: 3
  • Winner 1978, 1979 and 1983
• Olympic football tournament:
  • Bronze medal winner 1972
• East German Footballer of the Year
  • Winner 1979, 1983.

References[link]

v t e East Germany squad – 1972 Olympic Bronze Medalists 1 Croy 2 Kurbjuweit 3 Zapf 4 Weise 5 Bransch 6 Irmscher 7 Pommerenke 8 Schulenberg 9 Sparwasser 10 Kreische 11 Streich 12 Häfner 13 Seguin 14 Ducke 15 Vogel 16 Tyll 17 Wätzlich 18 Ganzera 19 Schneider Coach: Buschner

v t e East Germany squad – 1974 FIFA World Cup 1 Croy 2 Kurbjuweit 3 Bransch 4 Weise 5 Fritsche 6 Schnuphase 7 Pommerenke 8 Löwe 9 Ducke 10 Kreische 11 Streich (c) 12 Wätzlich 13 Lauck 14 Sparwasser 15 Vogel 16 Irmscher 17 Hamann 18 Kische 19 Seguin 20 Hoffmann 21 Blochwitz 22 Friese Coach: Buschner

v t e East German Footballer of the Year 1963: Kaiser 1964: Urbanczyk 1965: Weigang 1966: Nöldner 1967: Erler 1968: Bransch 1969: Vogel 1970: R. Ducke 1971: P. Ducke 1972: Croy 1973: Kreische 1974: Bransch 1975: Pommerenke 1976: Croy 1977: Dörner 1978: Croy 1979: Streich 1980: Grapenthin 1981: Grapenthin 1982: Schnuphase 1983: Streich 1984: Dörner 1985: Dörner 1986: Müller 1987: Müller 1988: Thom 1989: Trautmann 1990: Kirsten 1991: Gütschow

v t e DDR-Oberliga Top Scorer 1949–50: Satrapa 1950–51: Schöne 1951–52: Krause 1952–53: Arlt 1953–54: Satrapa 1954–55: Tröger 1955: Seligow 1956: Lindner 1957: Kaulmann 1958: Müller 1959: Bauchspieß 1960: Bauchspieß 1961–62: Bialas 1962–63: Ducke 1963–64: Backhaus 1964–65: Bauchspieß 1965–66: Frenzel 1966–67: Rentzsch 1967–68: Kostmann 1968–69: Kostmann 1969–70: Skrowny 1970–71: Kreische 1971–72: Kreische 1972–73: Kreische 1973–74: Matoul 1974–75: Vogel 1975–76: Kreische 1976–77: Streich 1977–78: Havenstein 1978–79: Streich 1979–80: Kühn 1980–81: Streich 1981–82: Schnuphase 1982–83: Streich 1983–84: Ernst 1984–85: Ernst 1985–86: Sträßer 1986–87: Pastor 1987–88: Thom 1988–89: Gütschow 1989–90: Gütschow 1990–91: Gütschow

This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (November 2010)

Tokio Hotel
Tokio Hotel, 2010. L-R: Georg Listing, Bill Kaulitz, Tom Kaulitz, and Gustav Schäfer
Background information
Origin	Magdeburg, Germany
Genres	Pop rock,[1][2] alternative rock,[3] emo,[4] glam rock,[5] power pop,[6][7][8][9]
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Universal Music Germany, Cherrytree, Interscope
Website	www.tokiohotel.com
Members
Bill Kaulitz Tom Kaulitz Georg Listing Gustav Schäfer

Tokio Hotel is a rock band from Germany, founded in 2001 by singer Bill Kaulitz, guitarist Tom Kaulitz, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bassist Georg Listing.^[10] The quartet have scored four number one singles and have released three number one albums in their native country, selling nearly 5 million CDs and DVDs there.^[11] After recording an unreleased demo-CD under the name "Devilish" and having their contract with Sony BMG Germany terminated, the band released their first German-language album, Schrei, as Tokio Hotel on Universal Music Germany in 2005. Schrei sold more than half a million copies worldwide^[12] and spawned four top five singles in both Germany and Austria. In 2007, the band released their second German album Zimmer 483 and their first English album Scream which have combined album sales of over one million copies worldwide and helped win the band their first MTV Europe Music Award for Best InterAct. The former, Zimmer 483, spawned three top five singles in Germany while the latter, Scream, spawned two singles that reached the top twenty in new territories such as France, Portugal, Spain and Italy. In September 2008, they won in the US their first MTV Video Music Award (VMA) for Best New Artist. In October 2008, they won four awards including Best International Artist and Song of the year at Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica (MTV Video Music Awards Latin America) held in Mexico. Tokio Hotel became the first German band ever to win an award at the MTV VMAs and also at the MTV Latin America Awards. They also picked up the Headliner award at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008 held in Liverpool on November 6, 2008 and the Award for Best Group on November 5, 2009 at the MTV Europe Music Award (EMA) held in Berlin. They won an Award for Best World Stage Performance on November 7, 2010 at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Madrid. In July 2011, they became the first German band to win an MTV Video Music Awards Japan (VMAJ). And won MTV's 2012 Musical March Madness.

History[link]

[edit] Formation (2001 - 2004)

Tokio Hotel by vocalist Bill Kaulitz and guitarist Tom Kaulitz, who are identical twin brothers, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bass-guitarist Georg Listing. The four met in 2001 after a live show in a Magdeburg-Club, where Listing and Schäfer, who knew each other from music school, watched from the audience while Bill and Tom Kaulitz played on the stage.^[13][14] Under the name Devilish, the band soon began playing in talent shows and small concerts.^[15] After Bill Kaulitz's participation in a children's Star Search in 2003 at age thirteen (which he lost in the quarter-final), he was discovered by music producer Peter Hoffmann. Devilish changed their name to Tokio Hotel: "Tokio", the German spelling of the Japanese city Tokyo, due to a love of the city, and "Hotel" due to their constant touring and living in hotels.^[13] Soon after Sony BMG took them under contract, Hoffmann hired David Jost and Pat Benzner into the team of creators and authors, and had them give the teens instruction on songwriting and instrument playing; most of the songs of the first album were written by Hoffmann, Jost and Benzer (including the singles "Scream" and "Rescue me" which were completely written by them), only the single "Unendlichkeit" was written completely by Tokio Hotel themselves. Shortly before release of their first album, Sony terminated their contract. The band is now one of the biggest modern acts from Germany and the biggest in 20 years.

[edit] Schrei (2005 - 2006)

Bill Kaulitz performing in Hessisch-Lichtenau, Germany in 2006.

In 2005, Universal Music Group took Tokio Hotel under contract and developed a marketing plan. Their first single, "Durch den Monsun" ("Through the Monsoon"), quickly rose in the charts, appearing on the German official Media Control single chart at #15 on August 20, 2005 and eventually reaching #1 on August 26, 2005; it also reached #1 on the Austrian singles chart. Their second single, "Schrei" ("Scream"), climbed to the #5 position in the German charts. These two songs were written by singer Bill Kaulitz together with their group of producers Peter Hoffmann, David Jost, Pat Benzer and Dave Roth. Their debut album, Schrei, was released on September 19, 2005, and was certified triple gold by the BVMI in 2006 for selling over 300,000 copies in Germany.^[16] In 2006, a third and fourth single, "Rette mich" ("Rescue Me") and "Der letzte Tag" ("The Final Day"), were released; both reached #1 as well. "Der letzte Tag" contained a B-side called "Wir schließen uns ein", which was also accompanied by a music video.

[edit] Zimmer 483 (2007 - 2008)

The first single off their second album Zimmer 483 (Room 483), called "Übers Ende der Welt" (later re-released in English under the name "Ready, Set, Go!"), was released on January 26, 2007 and quickly reached #1 in Germany and Austria, and #2 in France. Zimmer 483 was released in Germany on February 23, 2007, along with a deluxe edition of the album containing a DVD. The album's second single, "Spring nicht" ("Don't Jump") was released on April 7. The tour accompanying the release of the album, The Zimmer 483 Tour, was scheduled to start in March 2007, but was delayed by two weeks because the band members wished to have a different stage design. A third single, "An deiner Seite (Ich bin da)" ("By Your Side"), was released on November 16. The single contains the B-side "1000 Meere" ("1000 Oceans"), for which a music video was also produced. On April 28, 2008 Tokio Hotel released their single "Heilig" but no music video for the single was released, because of the tight schedule they had.

[edit] Scream (2007 - 2008)

Tokio Hotel's first English language album, Scream, was released on June 4, 2007 throughout Europe. In Germany, the album was released as Room 483 in order to emphasize the continuity with their last German album Zimmer 483. Scream contains English versions of a selection of songs from their German-language albums Scream and Zimmer 483. "Monsoon", the English-language version of "Durch den Monsun", was the first single from the album. "Ready, Set, Go!" (the translation of "Übers Ende der Welt") was released as the album's second single and "Don't Jump" (the translation of "Spring nicht") as the third single. A video for "Scream", the English-language version of their 2005 hit "Schrei", was also recorded, and was released to the iTunes Store in early March 2008.

Tokio Hotel gave their first concert in the United Kingdom on June 19, 2007. "Ready, Set, Go!" was released in the UK as the band's first single on August 27, 2007. The song reached #77 in the UK Singles Chart.

Tokio Hotel won an MTV Europe Music Award for Best InterAct on November 1, 2007 and were also nominated for Best Band. They performed "Monsoon" at the event.

Tokio Hotel released their first US single, simply called "Tokio Hotel", in late 2007. The single contains the tracks "Scream" and "Ready, Set, Go!", and was available exclusively at Hot Topic stores. Their second US single, "Scream America", was released on December 11, 2007. The single contains the track "Scream" and a remix of "Ready, Set, Go!" by AFI's Jade Puget. In February 2008, the band toured North America for five dates starting in Canada and finishing up in New York.^[17] After appearing and performing live on MuchMusic, while touring in Canada, "Ready, Set, Go!" entered the MuchOnDemand Daily 10, a countdown of videos chosen by viewers. It remained there for over a week, then returned to the top of the MOD Daily 10 chart on April 8. "Scream" was released in Canada on March 25 and in the US on May 6. The "1000 Hotels" European Tour began on March 3, 2008 in Brussels and continued to locations including The Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Scandinavia, and was scheduled to finish on April 9; during the concert in Marseille, France on March 14, Bill started to experience vocal problems.^[18] He let the audience sing more frequently than normal and instead of the original 21 songs that were on the set list, they only played 16 songs. Bill apologized, in German, for his bad singing and explained that he was sick. Two days later, the band canceled Lisbon, Portugal concert minutes before it was supposed to commence. The rest of the "1000 Hotels" Tour and a scheduled North American Tour were cancelled following an announcement in Bild by the band's manager that Bill Kaulitz had to undergo surgery to remove a cyst on his vocal cords.^[19][20]

Bill Kaulitz had been putting strain on his voice after playing 43 concerts in the 1000 Hotels tour without vacation.^[21] He had to undergo Larynx surgery on March 30 to remove a cyst that had formed on his vocal cords.^[22] The cyst was the result of a throat infection that went untreated.^[23] Following his surgery, Bill was unable to speak for twelve days, and had four weeks of vocal rehabilitation.^[24] If Bill had continued singing the rest of the tour, his voice would have eventually been permanently damaged.^[18][25] Tokio Hotel started performing again in May 2008^[26] and after that they embarked on a 2nd part of their 1000 Hotels European Tour adding many Open Air concerts and wrapping up the tour on July 13 in Werchter, Belgium.

[edit] North American Tours and Humanoid (2009 - 2010)

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Tokio Hotel embarked on a second tour of North America in August 2008, which included a performance at the Bamboozled festival in New Jersey. The band's music video for "Ready Set Go!" was nominated for Best Pop Video at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards,^[27] where they also won the award for Best New Artist.^[28] They returned to North America again in October 2008 for a month long tour of concerts and record store signings. In December 2008, a behind-the scenes DVD called Tokio Hotel TV – Caught on Camera was released. It contains footage from Tokio Hotel TV and backstage feature stories of the previous year on disc one entitled "History – The very best of Tokio Hotel TV!". A deluxe edition contains a second disc entitled "Future – The road to the new Album!" which features footage of the band on promotion tours and preparing for their third studio album.^[29]

In between the North American tours, the band returned to their record studio in Hamburg to record their third studio album, Humanoid, which, according to their producer David Jost, is currently set for release on October 2 in Germany & October 6, 2009 in the U.S.^[30][31][32] This is despite earlier statements predicting a March/April 2009 release or a May/June 2009 release.^[33][34][35] The album was recorded in both German and English with both versions were released simultaneously worldwide.^[34][35]

On August 10, it was announced on MTV news that the first German single would be "Automatisch" and its English counterpart, "Automatic", would also be released as a first single in the United States. On August 20, MTV Buzzworthy released a video which previewed "Automatic" and Cherrytree Records announced that the English version of the song would be released in the US on September 22.^[36][37] Nevertheless, the video for the single was released on September 3.

On November 2, it was announced on Tom's Blog that the second English single would be "World Behind My Wall" and its German counterpart, "Lass uns laufen", would be the second German single.^[38] The music videos for both versions were released on December 14 and December 15.

On June 24, the live music video for their single, "Dark Side of the Sun" was released on the band website.

On July 20, 2010 they released their second live album Humanoid City Live from Milan, Italy On November 22, 2010, their new song "Hurricanes and Suns," premiered on the Greek radio station Mad Radio. It was included in the bonus track on all versions of "Tokio Hotel: Best Of," a compilation album of their most successful songs. As well as the single for the 'Best of' release. The album will also include "Mädchen aus dem All", the first song the band recorded in a studio.

On December 14, 2010 their 'Best of' was released. December 2 was the World Premiere of the video for "Hurricanes and Suns" on their Official Website. On April 28, 2011 they received the "Fan Army FTW" award at the MTV O Music Awards, the networks first online award show. A clip of Bill and Tom thanking their fans was played after the winner was announced.

Tokio Hotel performed their first concert in Asia (excluding their concert in Israel) at the Audi Showcase in Singapore, followed shortly by the TM Connects With Tokio Hotel event in Malaysia, promoting the sales of their album Humanoid. They concluded the series of mini-concerts with Taiwan. They returned to Malaysia a couple of months later to perform at MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2010. They performed in Tokyo on December 15, 2010, after their South American Tour concluded in Distrito Federal, Mexico on December 2, 2010. In February, 2011 Tokio Hotel travelled to Japan to complete a second promo tour. A number of TV appearances and media interviews took place between February 8 and February 11.

On June 24, 2011 Tokio Hotel performed in Japan at “The Next Premium Night Tokio Hotel in Tokyo". The event was presented by Audi A1 and 150 fans were chosen to win tickets to attend the show. The event was the band's first acoustic performance in Japan. On June 25, 2011 the band performed live at the MTV Video Music Aid Japan in Tokyo. The show, which was formerly called the Video Music Awards Japan, was used as a music benefit to raise money for the Japanese Red Cross in order to help those who were affected by the recent earthquake.

Modeling and commercials[link]

This section is outdated. Please update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (January 2010)

On January 19, 2010, lead singer Bill Kaulitz teamed up with twins Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared to walk the runway at a fashion event in Milan.^[39] Kaulitz made two appearances, as he opened and closed DSquared's Menswear Autumn/Winter 2010 show to Tokio Hotel song "Screamin".^[40]

Car maker Audi hired the two frontmen to star in their new advertising campaign to attract the younger generation. They were featured in an episode of Tokio Hotel TV (on Tokio Hotel's website) and also in a commercial.^[41]

On August 4, 2010, Tom Kaulitz got his own Reebok shoe commercial.^[42] Reebok signed the 20-year-old Tokio Hotel guitarist and sneaker addict to model shoes for the company. "At home, I created a little room like a little storage room," he said of his sneakers. He also said that he gets 10 new pairs a week.^[42]

Best Of Tokio Hotel (2010)[link]

At 13th December in Germany and 14th December internationally Tokio Hotel released their first compilation album named "Best Of". It comes in two languages: english and german. It contains the most popular songs from all the previous albums and two new songs: "Hurricanes and Suns" (was recorded for Humanoid but not included in it) and "Mädchen aus dem All" (was recorded for Schrei but not included in it).There is a deluxe edition too which comes with both german and english versions of album and a bonus DVD with all Tokio Hotel's music videos and "making of" scenes.

[edit] New album and duet with Far East Movement (2011 - present)

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After finishing "Welcome To Humanoid City Tour" Bill and Tom with their manager David Jost moved to Los Angeles and still are living there. They said they are working on the new album, which will be released in the late 2012. Paparazzies caught Bill, Tom and Gustav in a shop in Los Angeles. MTV said the new album will be named "Dark Anthem".^[43]. Bill and Tom released an app named "BTK Twins" for iOS (16 January 2012),^[44] and Android(19 December 2011),^[45] for keeping in touch with their fans. Here Bill and Tom post their photos, videos and text messages, and fans can leave messages for posts. Bill and Tom answer to these comments very often. The app costs 2.99$, and if a user wants to leave comments besides watching only he must pay 0.99$ a month. Tokio Hotel launched a service named "VIP Call".^[46] Fans may pay 4.99 Euros for a month or 3.49 Euros for 3 months and Tokio Hotel call them and leave audio messages. Fans can even ask them questions and Tokio Hotel will answer to them. On 18 May 2012 Far East Movement released an album named "Dirty Bass". In it there is a song named "If I Die Tomorrow" which is a duet with Bill. Far East Movement accepted there will be a music video released for "If I Die Tomorrow" soon. Bill Kaulitz will take part in shootings too.

Band members[link]

• Bill Kaulitz - lead vocals
• Tom Kaulitz - guitar, piano, backing vocals
• Georg Listing - bass, keyboards, synthesizers, backing vocals
• Gustav Schäfer - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Schrei (2005)
• Zimmer 483 (2007)
• Scream (2007)
• Humanoid (2009)
• Best Of (2010)

Awards[link]

Since the release of the "Durch den Monsun" single in 2005, Tokio Hotel have gone on to win 104 awards in various categories and countries.

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tokio Hotel

• Official site
• Cherrytree records profile
• Interscope records profile
• Tokio Hotel on MySpace
• Tokio Hotel on Facebook
• Tokio Hotel on Twitter
• Tokio Hotel on MTV