Konnopke’s Imbiss

Since 1930, Konnopke's Imbiss has stood under the heritage-listed elevated railway viaduct on Schönhauser Allee, serving East Berlin's first Currywurst since 1960 - skinless and with a sauce whose recipe the family keeps secret to this day. It also offers five levels of spiciness, a vegan option, and an outdoor snack garden next to the kiosk.

East Berlin’s First Currywurst

On October 4, 1930, Max and Charlotte Konnopke set up a folding table, an umbrella, and a sausage kettle on Schönhauser Allee. Thirty years later, their son Günter brought home the idea of currywurst from a job at a butcher’s shop in Wedding. Because ketchup was unavailable in the eastern part of the city after the construction of the Berlin Wall, the family developed a sauce in their own kitchen, which Charlotte initially stirred by hand. Together with their butcher, they turned the Bratwurst into a skinless Currywurst. From 1960, this sausage was available at Konnopke’s Imbiss, fried in lard and served whole on a plate, as the first in East Berlin. The sauce recipe remains a family secret to this day, with a sweet and fruity taste. Those who order the sausage sliced receive additional curry powder in five levels of spiciness, a gradation that was only introduced after 1990. It is served on cardboard or on a plate, optionally with potato salad.

Fourth Generation under the Magistrats-Schirm

In 1960, Max Konnopke himself built a permanent, all-glass kiosk with electricity, water, and a freezer. In 1976, he handed it over to his children; in 1983, a stall made of shiny yellowish metal was built, and in 1987, the snack garden was added. For the demolition in 2010 during the subway renovation, BVG, the district, and monument protection found a common solution, and in 2011, the new kiosk opened at the old location. It stands under the elevated railway system Schönhauser Allee, the so-called Magistratsschirm from 1911 to 1913, which is listed as an entire complex in the Berlin monument list. Konnopke’s Imbiss is currently run by Waltraud Ziervogel and Dagmar Konnopke, whose daughter Linda represents the fourth generation. In addition to the classic sausage, the menu includes a vegan currywurst, bratwurst with a roll (Schrippe), and Boulette with fries; the sausages traditionally come from Erfurt. The U2 and trams M1, M10, and 12 stop a few steps away at Eberswalder Straße. Fries and coffee were only added after the reunification, while pickled gherkins, ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard have always been part of the counter offerings.