At the start of the 20th century, Berlin was a city unparalleled in Europe for its size and rate of development. It's relentless energy and dizzying growth stirred the imagination of philosophers (Simmel, Kracauer, Benjamin) and artists (Kirchner, Moholy-Negy, Hoch) architects (van Doesburg, Gropius, Behrens, Taut) and writers (Doblin, Heine, Fontane). A global center of industry, it thrived on the exchange and production of goods. It was, as Friedrich Engels noted, “a modern metropolis that presupposes a capitalist production."