Schloss Schönhausen in the Berlin suburb of Pankow was once home to a queen. Later, when Pankow had long become part of the metropolis, the first and only head of state of the young GDR ruled here. Pankow was never the seat of government, but it was a preferred residence for representatives of power in the early years of the GDR. In the old district of Pankow and in Niederschönhausen, which this volume focuses on, there also lived writers, artists, actors, inventors, and even a five-day king of Albania. In addition to contributions about the resistance in Pankow and life in the "town," individual portraits of former residents such as Johannes R. Becher, Wolfgang Langhoff, Wilhelm Pieck, Paul Nipkow, and Christa Wolf, as well as over 200 addresses of prominent figures, the book includes seven suggestions for an individual discovery tour.