Potsdamer Platz is a place that has been rebuilt more than once. In late 1924 a traffic tower with early traffic lights stood on it. Between 1943 and 1945 the square was destroyed. In 1945 it lay where the American, British and Soviet sectors met, and the sector line was painted on it on 21 August 1948. Then came the uprising of 17 June 1953, and on 13 August 1961 the Wall split the square; a death strip cleared the buildings. The Wall opened on 9 November 1989. German Wikipedia puts the opening of the Potsdamer Platz crossing on 12 November and English Wikipedia (without a source) on 11 November, so the day is disputed.
From wasteland to Marlene-Dietrich-Platz
After 1990 the Berlin Senate sold the plots quickly, notably to Daimler-Benz. (English Wikipedia's "1987" for that sale looks doubtful.) The architects Hilmer & Sattler won the 1991 competition, and Renzo Piano designed the Daimler (debis) part. The square on which the casino and the Grand Hyatt stand was named Marlene-Dietrich-Platz on 8 November 1997. English Wikipedia (without a source) gives 2 October 1998 as the official opening of the complex.
The casino’s first home
Spielbank Berlin did not begin here. In West Berlin the Europa-Center had been built in 1963–65 on the site of the Romanisches Café and was inaugurated by Willy Brandt on 2 April 1965. Gustav Jaenecke founded Spielbank Berlin GmbH & Co. KG on 1 October 1975; the licence came in autumn that year, and play began in the Europa-Center. It was Germany's eighteenth casino; until the early 1970s all twelve had been in spa or seaside resorts (see why casinos sit in spa towns).
The move to Potsdamer Platz
On 2 October 1998 the casino moved to Potsdamer Platz, into a Renzo Piano building, as the Senate pushed redevelopment after reunification. The company's own page confirms Piano's design and a chandelier of 333,000 crystals weighing two tonnes, hanging over all levels. The Grand Hyatt next door, by Rafael Moneo, has 342 rooms. The company calls its Potsdamer Platz house Germany's second-largest casino. The casino has opened further sites since: Spandau in 2005, the Fernsehturm on 1 February 2013 and the Ku'damm on 18 June 2021.
Where Marlene Dietrich fits
Dietrich gives the square its name, and that is all we can show: no source we found ties her to the casino itself. If a hotel or a guidebook suggests otherwise, ask for the source.
What to see today
The casino is at Marlene-Dietrich-Platz 1 and opens daily from 11:00 to 03:00; entry is €2 and the minimum age is 18. For the hotel, the spa, the airport train and a 48-hour plan, read the Berlin dossier. The Europa-Center, where the casino began, is also worth a look.
Often-repeated claims that we could not confirm: a year-long renovation completed in 2023 with "six levels and 8,500 m²" (the company timeline has no 2022 or 2023 entry; a trade article of May 2023 reports a twelve-month renovation during operation that reopened in late April 2023, with about six levels and 8,500 m², figures the casino's own pages do not confirm); the date the Potsdamer Platz crossing opened; the date on which the Senate sold the Daimler plot; the state of the Wall remnants on the square today (not checked).
Sources
- Spielbank Berlin: Historie
- Spielbank Berlin: Potsdamer Platz
- Spielbank Berlin: Standorte
- Wikipedia (de): Spielbank Berlin
- Wikipedia (de): Potsdamer Platz
- Wikipedia (en): Potsdamer Platz
- Wikipedia (de): Europa-Center
- Kauperts: Marlene-Dietrich-Platz
Checked 2026-10-20. Where sources disagree, we say so in the text.