Kaufhaus des Westens (Department Store of the West)

Kaufhaus des Westens (Department Store of the West) Review

The completely refurbished and modernized KaDeWe isn't just Berlin's classiest department store; it's also continental Europe's largest, a grand-scale emporium in modern guise and an historic landmark of Western capitalism for decades. Sold away from its Jewish owners during the Nazi era, nearly destroyed by an American airplane that crashed into it toward the end of the war, and then rebuilt in the years before the Wall went up, KaDeWe's history is Berlin's history in a nutshell. Today, its seven floors hold an enormous selection, but it is best known for the food and delicatessen counters, restaurants, champagne bars, and beer bars that occupy its two top floors, as well as for its crowning rooftop winter garden.