The Hoffnungskirche in Berlin-Pankow was inaugurated in 1913. The Art Nouveau church made liturgical participation of the congregation possible with its innovative architecture, a square church hall. In 1962, however, almost all Art Nouveau ornamentation was removed from the church. Pulpit altar, paintings, frescoes, rosettes, angel heads, lamps and more. The walls were painted green and the floor was covered with linoleum. A sculpture of Christ by Hans Perathoner was hung on the altar wall; it had originally been placed in a church in Kaulsdorf but, on the orders of the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Orsenigo, had been removed because of its appearance and stored in the basement of St. Hedwig's Cathedral. From 1976 on, the Hope Church was not used at all and slowly fell into disrepair.
Beginning in 1975, there was a realignment of the state's appreciation of historic buildings in the GDR. In 1978, the district of Pankow placed the Hoffnungskirche under a preservation order. In 1985, after the tower dome had been restored by the congregation alone and without state aid, the Pankow borough surprisingly (and yet not) suggested that the church be restored, and the congregational church council complied. The interior was restored in the closest approximation to the first Art Nouveau version. This was done under the preservationist premise that the redesign of the chancel from 1962-1964 was not removed, but had to be preserved. Only the movable crucifix was allowed to be removed.
