Schmargendorf (German: [ˈʃmaʁɡn̩ˌdɔʁf] ⓘ) is a south-western locality (Ortsteil) of Berlin in the district (Bezirk) of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.
[2] It was probably established about 1220 by German settlers in the course of the Ostsiedlung under the co-ruling Ascanian Margraves John I and Otto III of Brandenburg, after the former Slavic territories had been conquered by their great-grandfather Albert the Bear.
During the growth of the City of Berlin after the 1871 unification of Germany, many peasants profited by the real estate speculation, when Schmargendorf on the eastern rim of the Grunewald forest became a popular residential area.
In 1899 the former village was separated from neighboring Wilmersdorf and received municipal rights within the Brandenburgian Landkreis Teltow, whereafter the residents had the lavish Neo-Gothic town hall erected in 1902.
Among the force trying to resist there the advancing Soviets were the film producer Ewald von Demandowsky and his lover, the future film star Hildegard Knef, dressed as a soldier[4] Since 1954 Schmargendorf houses the Berlinisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster, formerly located in Berlin Mitte.