I remember riding the Berlin U bahn in the 80´s when there were these eerie "Ghost stations" at a line that went from west into east and back to the west.The lights were on but the platforms had´nt seen people for over 25 years...Very strange
Yes, I remember when my friends in Berlin I was visiting in the first year after the fall of the wall told me „now you can leave the train on Alexanderplatz !“ and then we did and it felt elevating indeed.
I read about this on Wikipedia but didn't believe it, mentioning that the ghost stations looked like they were untouched since 1961. Seeing Rosenthaler Platz confirmed this. The benches, the decor, that huge sink / water fountain really was like something from the WWII era. Fascinating. thanks for posting this!
I was 1 year and 9 months old then, living my last days as a citizen of the USSR and becoming the citizen of independent Latvia. I didn't live through these days and such videos like your help to see and acknowledge the changes that took place then. These should be shown in history classes because modern youth isn't interested in history as a pure facts, they are used to television and video and computer games so I think history themed video games and such videos like yours could help.
Thanks! 4 weeks before going my camcorder went wrong and the shop said that it would take 6 weeks to repair. So I am just pleased that I was able to be there and film this. Simon
Thank you for uploading this video! This is really rare stuff, especially recordings from Eastern Berlin subway stations aren't easy to find, even across the former eastern part of Germany. Love it!
A very insightful video. I had the good fortune to visit Ost - Berlin, the fair capital of the [former] DDR, way back in 1981. I was 18 yrs old and it was my first trip away from Home visiting family in West Berlin. I also found "The Alex" to be quite something as well. Very clean n tidy. I see, here, that some things hadn't changed since 1981. Sad to see that there were still restrictions imposed upon the East Berliners. Not much longer...for changes to come. Thank you for the fond memories
Thanks. I am just pleased that I was able to visit Berlin at the time - and be a part of its history! The reasons why are well known, but to actually see the place before it all started to change too much was quite something. Even so, by the time of this visit some of the hated Berlin wall had come down - so I still missed some things. Simon
Thankyou for sharing this to the world. I was only 8 when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. Being from Australia it was a world away. I can't remember it on television. I went to Germany last year and immersed myself in the history. Yet this footage allows me to understand how difficult things were, particularly for East Germans at the time.
West Berlin seems a busier place, more people, more colour and liveliver. But East Berlin does not look so bad at all. My God, thoses Germans keep their streets clean and tidy.
Another brilliant film! I was also there in April 1990 - I spent one day in East Berlin. Unfortunately that was before I was filming everything and all I have now is my memory ... My biggest regret is not having recorded more of my life and some of the interesting places I was in in the 1980s.
One thing that got my attention was that the train doors opened before the train made a complete stop. Then the train starts again right as the doors close. In New York, the trains must wait a few seconds after stopping at a station before the doors are opened and then a few seconds must pass after the doors close before they start again. It's a safety rule.
I also saw another video how it looked 20 years later - in spring 2010: While Wittenbergplatz and the area around the KaDeWe hadn't changed, the area around the Alexanderplatz looked totally different. The Centrum store is now Galeria Kaufhof and the Stadt Berlin store for "hard" currencies was torn down and the media store Saturn built a new store, there. And certainly the trains stop at all stations, now. :-)
thank you for this update, I often wondered what happened to Stadt Berlin. The things I saw in Centrum ..... I wish I had been able to take photos - but I was concerned that if I tried to do this I might end up in an East German prison camp!
The diferances can be seen on the streets of the city and the style of the subway stations. After berlin was reunified the old subway conections were reopened. The old east german stations looked like it and the western sector looked a lot newer. I was there in 2004.
@citytransportinfo ooh.. then it laid on the british sector i assume.. you got a great recording btw.. this is a very historical recording.. were you in a travel to germany at that time?
I remember taking U6 and U8 from western Berlin through the eastern portion and back the western part. The people who got on in the west got off in the west on the far side. Those who got on the east got off in the east. At that time, I noticed a difference in fashion between Wessies and Ossies.
rosenthaler und jannowitz waren shcon wieder offen, mit deren großen verteilerhallen und vielen eingängen konnte man relativ schnell einen grenzübergang schaffen.
Thanks, I knew that they were from West Berlin, but did not know the exact facts about when they went east... which it seems was barely months before the wall came down! Simon
Very intresting ! I've heard that the first eastern subway train with door closing lights and bells came in the 60's with modified Western trains and the first western subway train with door closing lights and bells came in 1984 (and still in service now)
Yes, all from East Berlin is Alexanderplatz. I think the large profile trains were known as Line E. The trains came from West Berlin, I think in the mid 1960's. Simon
what, that having just two sets of doors makes station dwell times longer?? The trains built in West Berlin (as was when the city was divided) have three sets of doors per carriage, which means that passengers can board & alight more quickly. Liking (or not liking) ripples on the side of a train is purely a personal thing. If funds for the U5 extension were available so why has part of it already opened as U55, with the rest not even being built yet??? Simon
(continued) 5:00 West, Wittenbergplatz ('Witti'), platform of line U1 (small profile) 6:40 West, Witti, entrance hall - this entrance hall is one of the most elaborately designed in West AND East Berlin; had been renovated in 1987 (?) and received that retro design. 7:20 West, Witti, entrance hall's exterior 7:30 West, Witti, 'KaDeWe' (very) large store 8:02 East, line U8, ride inside WESTern large profile train built in the 70s 9:20 East, still line U8, back at Alexanderplatz at 3rd platform
@EvanC0912 I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'in a travel to Germany' ... my visit to Berlin in April 1990 was specially to film things which I knew would soon be changing, such as the closed stations in East Berlin which were served by West Berlin U-Bahn and S-Bahn trains, the Intershop shops, the historic West Berlin tram which used a closed part of the U-Bahn and the M-Bahn. Simon
@JeffOrnstein01 There are several stations in the video: 0:05-1:10 Aleanderplatz platforms for line U5 ( opened 1930), 1:10-1:40 and 2:40-4:15 Alexanderplatz platform for line U2 ( opened 1913), 5:05-8:00 Wittenbergplatz two inner tracks for line U2 (opened 1902), other tracks/platforms for lines U1+U3 opened in 1913, 8:23-10:00 stations Rosenthaler Platz, Weinmeisterstr and Alexanderplatz, platform for line U8 were all opened in 1930. To which you are refering to as "IND style"? Probably U5/U8
Thanks. The 2 doors make the trains slower at busy stations, as it takes longer for passengers to board and alight (get on & off). But fewer doors also mean that there is more space inside for more seats. Simon
If they shut the stations, then how did they replace the lights on the stations? The closed ones had fully working lights, and one would assume that work was done on the track. How was this done?
I spend nearly a week in Berlin in autumn. Maybe the most interesting city where i have ever visited. I have studied German three years at school and tried to use it in Berlin, but soon all waitresses changed to English. Ich bin ein berliner.
I kept looking for significant contrasts through all the video - and could hardly find any!! Where would you see huge differences?? I grew up in Berlin and so I know that public transport in East Berlin was certainly not worse than in the West!
sko083 asked a very good question... 0:00 to 0:05 East, Alexanderplatz ('Alex'), platform of today's line U2 (small profile) 0:06 East, Alex, platform today's U5 (large profile) 1:00 East, Alex, parked train on same platform 1:08 East, Alex, 'U2', departure of Eastern small profile train 1:40 East, Alex, World Clock and 'Centrum' large store 2:40 East, Alex, 'U2' platform 4:13 East, inside Eastern small profile train (to be continued)
@Iggy3d: Oh, they certainly would not welcome me, because I prefer thinking and knowing instead of believing something that I've heard somewhere. - Just a question: Have YOU been in Berlin at that time? Did YOU take at least ONE of these trains?
ah we all wish we could have seen cities as they were 'years ago' before we were born. I was born in 1959 and wish I could have seen Berlin (& London) as they were in the 1930's. Even better, with a present-day digital camera! Simon
when the wall went up the Eastern authorities poured concrete down the station entrances and into subterranean passageways to stop their own people from reaching the platforms, and put armed guards on the platforms - who were told to shoot to kill. Simon
The wall was breached / opened in November 1989 but it took several years for the city to be fully reunited again. In 1990 people still had to pass passport control checkpoints when travelling between the east and the west.
pilotman, I had to remove your message, because I detest swear words. But you are right about West Berlin being as much a state of mind as a place. From what I understand to encourage people to live there the West German (Bonn) Government said that West Berliners did not have to go in to the military. Of course there was always the threat that one day the East would invade, and in a way this did happen - but thankfully in peace (November 1989). Simon
Hello, you said...The stench of these old trains remains immermost into my nose. Rubber burned Vie. but - which trains? Some of them are still used. (especially the small profile trains). Simon
The Galeria Kaufhof in Alex certainly wasn't always as pretty as it is today! Thank god they reclad that thing in travertine and lit it green! Also, at 9:20 - is that ghost station Moritzplatz?
(Inhabited) Buildings close to Alexanderplatz that look like they'll collapse any time? Where exactly would those be? I am crossing Alexanderplatz quite frequently, haven't noticed them...
This can still happen even 'today'. I nearly got in trouble because I tried to get on a tram when it was stopped at traffic signals... (and not at a tram stop) Simon
@SalocinTEN That's because these old subway trains (type D build in the 1960s) were sold to North Korea instead of being scrapped after they were taken out of service in Berlin.
I'm from London and I think about that every time I get off the train in Berlin! In England we're not trusted to take care, in Berlin you can step onto the platform while its still moving (if you want!)
@MaestroFire As a former developer I can assure you that will not work. The blocks around Alexanderplatz house huge amounts of people. Maybe they would agree to moving out for a couple of years whilst their new homes were being built but then who would pay for it? And given the huge amount of homes to be constructed, the new buildings would look like the old. The only solution to this problem - if it is a problem - is to clad the buildings in some way as many have been in the former DDR.
Thanks, - I only filmed what I saw and I feel sure that I missed quite a lot too! That said, I did set out to film enough so that people would see and understand the 'flavour' of the differences etc between the two parts of what prior to 1948 had been one city. Simon
Was on the Berlin U-Bahn a couple of years ago and remember a station (somewhere on the U2 in Mitte if I remember rightly) with a lift leading from the platform...to a traffic island in the middle of the road! Bizarre! Anyone know what station that would be?
Some of those trains have a similarity with the early DT series (specifically the DT-1, DT-2 and non-refit DT-3) in Hamburg's U-Bahn, it's mostly because of the forehead and overall shape of the car.
In 1990 there was no more danger of being arrested for filming in East Berlin. Also, I have every reason to believe that there were no more Intershops (shops where you can buy things for hard currency).
When the wall went up in 1961 so some stations in the Russian sector of Berlin (ie: East Berlin) were sealed to stop people from using the transport to get to the Western sections of Berlin (British, French & American sectors, which became W. Berlin) Station platforms were patrolled by armed guards ordered to shoot to kill. Before the wall was erected the stations were used, as they are now.
I also do not like the ripples on the train sides - but this styling is used in both Russia and America! The two doors is a problem, as this makes the trains slow at stations. But money is a problem, so the trains cannot be replaced. The U5 extension (U55) is more important! simon
@JeffOrnstein01 It was probably the other way round, because the Berlin subway opened already in 1902 , 3 years before the New York subway (and construction startet in 1896). But the resemblence is also due to the fact, that in both cites the constructions of the subway lines and station followed the same method "cut and cover" and not like for instance in London by building deep tunnels in miners fashion. Also the stations got usually an even ceiling not curved like in paris.
The "GDR-trains" (BR G) are tastier than the old-styled western trains (BR A3L), thats my opinion. The only problem with the 2 doors is, that they're a long way away from each other.
@MaestroFire A city will never ever recover exactly as things were before. Sentimentality builds up for life as it was in the 'intervening' period. For people born after the war who have only known the city as it was in the divided era so destroying everything they knew and replacing it with what their parents knew is not at all a welcome prospect. Simon
@MaestroFire How would you feel if someone came along and said that you could not live in the flat you had been in all your life because someone decided that they were going to 'bring back buildings from the great Prussian times'? Something tells me you would not be too pleased. I also doubt that they are about to collapse at any moment.
yes, I filmed them myself - I specially went to Berlin in April 1990 to film some of the transports while Berlin was still two cities. I am pleased that you and so many other people here seem to find my films to be of interest. Simon
I was asking myself who would film this nerve-wrecking and depressing Berlin-U-Bahn, what was my daily torture for years on end and now! What a great time-travel. Well done. I remember the tilling (I am not sure, if this the right word) on the walls, who could easy to be found on any toilet and so was the smell. Weltstadt Berlin.
Nice idea, but not correct. The Baureihe G (Class G) was developed and built by VEB Lokomotivbau Elektrotechnische Werke (LEW) „Hans Beimler“ Hennigsdorf (GDR).
I remember riding the Berlin U bahn in the 80´s when there were these eerie "Ghost stations" at a line that went from west into east and back to the west.The lights were on but the platforms had´nt seen people for over 25 years...Very strange
Yes, I remember when my friends in Berlin I was visiting in the first year after the fall of the wall told me „now you can leave the train on Alexanderplatz !“ and then we did and it felt elevating indeed.
Its amazing how clean it is.
I read about this on Wikipedia but didn't believe it, mentioning that the ghost stations looked like they were untouched since 1961. Seeing Rosenthaler Platz confirmed this. The benches, the decor, that huge sink / water fountain really was like something from the WWII era. Fascinating. thanks for posting this!
I was 1 year and 9 months old then, living my last days as a citizen of the USSR and becoming the citizen of independent Latvia. I didn't live through these days and such videos like your help to see and acknowledge the changes that took place then. These should be shown in history classes because modern youth isn't interested in history as a pure facts, they are used to television and video and computer games so I think history themed video games and such videos like yours could help.
Thanks!
4 weeks before going my camcorder went wrong and the shop said that it would take 6 weeks to repair. So I am just pleased that I was able to be there and film this.
Simon
I visited Berlin for three days in 2012 and fell in love with the city and the German people. I can't wait to return. Aufwiedersehn...
Thank you for uploading this video!
This is really rare stuff, especially recordings from Eastern Berlin subway stations aren't easy to find, even across the former eastern part of Germany. Love it!
A very insightful video. I had the good fortune to visit Ost - Berlin, the fair capital of the [former] DDR, way back in 1981. I was 18 yrs old and it was my first trip away from Home visiting family in West Berlin. I also found "The Alex" to be quite something as well. Very clean n tidy. I see, here, that some things hadn't changed since 1981. Sad to see that there were still restrictions imposed upon the East Berliners. Not much longer...for changes to come. Thank you for the fond memories
Thanks.
I am just pleased that I was able to visit Berlin at the time - and be a part of its history!
The reasons why are well known, but to actually see the place before it all started to change too much was quite something.
Even so, by the time of this visit some of the hated Berlin wall had come down - so I still missed some things.
Simon
Ah I remember riding past the closed East Berlin stations in '84...man it was so weird and creepy!
Thankyou for sharing this to the world. I was only 8 when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. Being from Australia it was a world away. I can't remember it on television. I went to Germany last year and immersed myself in the history. Yet this footage allows me to understand how difficult things were, particularly for East Germans at the time.
West Berlin seems a busier place, more people, more colour and liveliver.
But East Berlin does not look so bad at all. My God, thoses Germans keep their streets clean and tidy.
Another brilliant film! I was also there in April 1990 - I spent one day in East Berlin. Unfortunately that was before I was filming everything and all I have now is my memory ...
My biggest regret is not having recorded more of my life and some of the interesting places I was in in the 1980s.
Thank you very much for posting this. I am very interested in this period of History, and your video is a great piece of testimony.
This is an absolute gem, thank you so much for this !
One thing that got my attention was that the train doors opened before the train made a complete stop. Then the train starts again right as the doors close. In New York, the trains must wait a few seconds after stopping at a station before the doors are opened and then a few seconds must pass after the doors close before they start again. It's a safety rule.
Thanks for posting this. Going through the closed U-Bahn stations reminds me of my summer spent there with my grandparents in 1981.
I also saw another video how it looked 20 years later - in spring 2010: While Wittenbergplatz and the area around the KaDeWe hadn't changed, the area around the Alexanderplatz looked totally different. The Centrum store is now Galeria Kaufhof and the Stadt Berlin store for "hard" currencies was torn down and the media store Saturn built a new store, there. And certainly the trains stop at all stations, now. :-)
thank you for this update, I often wondered what happened to Stadt Berlin. The things I saw in Centrum ..... I wish I had been able to take photos - but I was concerned that if I tried to do this I might end up in an East German prison camp!
The diferances can be seen on the streets of the city and the style of the subway stations. After berlin was reunified the old subway conections were reopened. The old east german stations looked like it and the western sector looked a lot newer. I was there in 2004.
I was just there this year. Had visited in 74, 88. There's color and life to area now.
This is one of the coolest vids I have seen here. THANK YOU for uploading this!
@citytransportinfo
ooh.. then it laid on the british sector i assume..
you got a great recording btw.. this is a very historical recording..
were you in a travel to germany at that time?
I remember taking U6 and U8 from western Berlin through the eastern portion and back the western part. The people who got on in the west got off in the west on the far side. Those who got on the east got off in the east. At that time, I noticed a difference in fashion between Wessies and Ossies.
mm.. why did the wittenbergplatz station sign use the london underground's style sign?
rosenthaler und jannowitz waren shcon wieder offen, mit deren großen verteilerhallen und vielen eingängen konnte man relativ schnell einen grenzübergang schaffen.
I love these videos from right after the berlin wall -- thanks!
Stadtmitte rings a bell, actually. Danke schön.
Many, many thanks for this timeline.
Simon
Thanks, I knew that they were from West Berlin, but did not know the exact facts about when they went east... which it seems was barely months before the wall came down!
Simon
Very intresting !
I've heard that the first eastern subway train with door closing lights and bells came in the 60's with modified Western trains and the first western subway train with door closing lights and bells came in 1984 (and still in service now)
imaginox9 the western subway train with door closing alarms and lights was probably an experimental fully automated unstaffed train.
imaginox9 thanks! :-)
Yes, all from East Berlin is Alexanderplatz.
I think the large profile trains were known as Line E.
The trains came from West Berlin, I think in the mid 1960's.
Simon
I was in Berlin about a year ago, didn't look that much different to me :P
some things have changed, some things are very much the same.
what, that having just two sets of doors makes station dwell times longer?? The trains built in West Berlin (as was when the city was divided) have three sets of doors per carriage, which means that passengers can board & alight more quickly.
Liking (or not liking) ripples on the side of a train is purely a personal thing.
If funds for the U5 extension were available so why has part of it already opened as U55, with the rest not even being built yet???
Simon
(continued)
5:00 West, Wittenbergplatz ('Witti'), platform of line U1 (small profile)
6:40 West, Witti, entrance hall - this entrance hall is one of the most elaborately designed in West AND East Berlin; had been renovated in 1987 (?) and received that retro design.
7:20 West, Witti, entrance hall's exterior
7:30 West, Witti, 'KaDeWe' (very) large store
8:02 East, line U8, ride inside WESTern large profile train built in the 70s
9:20 East, still line U8, back at Alexanderplatz at 3rd platform
Your video brought back a lot of memories.
@EvanC0912 I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'in a travel to Germany' ...
my visit to Berlin in April 1990 was specially to film things which I knew would soon be changing, such as the closed stations in East Berlin which were served by West Berlin U-Bahn and S-Bahn trains, the Intershop shops, the historic West Berlin tram which used a closed part of the U-Bahn and the M-Bahn.
Simon
@JeffOrnstein01 There are several stations in the video: 0:05-1:10 Aleanderplatz platforms for line U5 ( opened 1930), 1:10-1:40 and 2:40-4:15 Alexanderplatz platform for line U2 ( opened 1913), 5:05-8:00 Wittenbergplatz two inner tracks for line U2 (opened 1902), other tracks/platforms for lines U1+U3 opened in 1913, 8:23-10:00 stations Rosenthaler Platz, Weinmeisterstr and Alexanderplatz, platform for line U8 were all opened in 1930. To which you are refering to as "IND style"? Probably U5/U8
Intresting, I never knew that. I guess you learn something new everyday.
thanks - if re-edited it needs to be uplifted as a brand new film.
But it is possible to add annotations.
maybe that would be a way forward?
Simon
Thanks.
The 2 doors make the trains slower at busy stations, as it takes longer for passengers to board and alight (get on & off). But fewer doors also mean that there is more space inside for more seats.
Simon
Awesome footage. Thank you for sharing
If they shut the stations, then how did they replace the lights on the stations? The closed ones had fully working lights, and one would assume that work was done on the track. How was this done?
I spend nearly a week in Berlin in autumn. Maybe the most interesting city where i have ever visited. I have studied German three years at school and tried to use it in Berlin, but soon all waitresses changed to English.
Ich bin ein berliner.
Thanks.
Simon
I kept looking for significant contrasts through all the video - and could hardly find any!! Where would you see huge differences?? I grew up in Berlin and so I know that public transport in East Berlin was certainly not worse than in the West!
sko083 asked a very good question...
0:00 to 0:05 East, Alexanderplatz ('Alex'), platform of today's line U2 (small profile)
0:06 East, Alex, platform today's U5 (large profile)
1:00 East, Alex, parked train on same platform
1:08 East, Alex, 'U2', departure of Eastern small profile train
1:40 East, Alex, World Clock and 'Centrum' large store
2:40 East, Alex, 'U2' platform
4:13 East, inside Eastern small profile train
(to be continued)
Spring 1990-Berlin West and East DDR. I remember riding the train u-bahn via 2 empty stations. There were even old gothic subtitles.
Excellent footage, a very interesting watch!
(cont...)
Also weird was standing in a street in East Berlin and hearing / feeling the trains passing below.
Simon
Have you filmed these videos by yourself? They are very interesting.
@Iggy3d: Oh, they certainly would not welcome me, because I prefer thinking and knowing instead of believing something that I've heard somewhere.
- Just a question: Have YOU been in Berlin at that time? Did YOU take at least ONE of these trains?
And of course also from me many thanks to Simon for this valuable video !!
You mean the small profile trains?
I know that many people wanted them replacing but these trains are too modern, so did not need replacing.
Simon
ah we all wish we could have seen cities as they were 'years ago' before we were born.
I was born in 1959 and wish I could have seen Berlin (& London) as they were in the 1930's.
Even better, with a present-day digital camera!
Simon
@EvanC0912 It was a gift from London Transport - I think they gave it in 1968.
when the wall went up the Eastern authorities poured concrete down the station entrances and into subterranean passageways to stop their own people from reaching the platforms, and put armed guards on the platforms - who were told to shoot to kill.
Simon
The wall was breached / opened in November 1989 but it took several years for the city to be fully reunited again.
In 1990 people still had to pass passport control checkpoints when travelling between the east and the west.
Wow, you really had a historical experience by seeing it in such a significant period of time. It has come a long, long way. -'tarotworldtour'
pilotman,
I had to remove your message, because I detest swear words.
But you are right about West Berlin being as much a state of mind as a place.
From what I understand to encourage people to live there the West German (Bonn) Government said that West Berliners did not have to go in to the military.
Of course there was always the threat that one day the East would invade, and in a way this did happen - but thankfully in peace (November 1989).
Simon
Hello,
you said...The stench of these old trains remains immermost into my nose. Rubber burned Vie.
but - which trains? Some of them are still used. (especially the small profile trains).
Simon
The Galeria Kaufhof in Alex certainly wasn't always as pretty as it is today! Thank god they reclad that thing in travertine and lit it green!
Also, at 9:20 - is that ghost station Moritzplatz?
(Inhabited) Buildings close to Alexanderplatz that look like they'll collapse any time? Where exactly would those be? I am crossing Alexanderplatz quite frequently, haven't noticed them...
The gift from london transport was the 'London style' station name sign on the wall
simon
This can still happen even 'today'.
I nearly got in trouble because I tried to get on a tram when it was stopped at traffic signals... (and not at a tram stop)
Simon
Great video. Very insightful.
@SalocinTEN That's because these old subway trains (type D build in the 1960s) were sold to North Korea instead of being scrapped after they were taken out of service in Berlin.
I agree.
Thanks for your comment.
Simon
Thanks.
You are welcome.
Simon
welche geisterbahnhöfe hast du durchfahren ??
bernauer str?... war der rosenthaler platz auch ein grenzbahnhof aber im Apr.90 schon wieder offen ???
especially at the closed stations, with the local people not really understanding why they can hear and feel something...
simon
stimmt ja. die damalige BVB hatte ja glaube ich auf Großprofil nur die Doras. was ist das eigentlich für ein zug bei 1:04?
why not?
maybe this is banned in the US, but its not in other cities!
Simon
I'm from London and I think about that every time I get off the train in Berlin! In England we're not trusted to take care, in Berlin you can step onto the platform while its still moving (if you want!)
Da gab's noch keine Handys.. wie toll :)
@MaestroFire As a former developer I can assure you that will not work. The blocks around Alexanderplatz house huge amounts of people. Maybe they would agree to moving out for a couple of years whilst their new homes were being built but then who would pay for it? And given the huge amount of homes to be constructed, the new buildings would look like the old. The only solution to this problem - if it is a problem - is to clad the buildings in some way as many have been in the former DDR.
Thanks, - I only filmed what I saw and I feel sure that I missed quite a lot too!
That said, I did set out to film enough so that people would see and understand the 'flavour' of the differences etc between the two parts of what prior to 1948 had been one city.
Simon
Are these trains still in service on the Berlin U-bahn.
Was on the Berlin U-Bahn a couple of years ago and remember a station (somewhere on the U2 in Mitte if I remember rightly) with a lift leading from the platform...to a traffic island in the middle of the road! Bizarre! Anyone know what station that would be?
Some of those trains have a similarity with the early DT series (specifically the DT-1, DT-2 and non-refit DT-3) in Hamburg's U-Bahn, it's mostly because of the forehead and overall shape of the car.
It often looks so empty. Is it just me or are there alot more people in Berlin than back then?
inotaishu1 Well if you consider all those who moved to Berlin when it became attractive after the fall of the wall and also the tourists now...
could simply be non rush hour.
Lots of migrants since!
In 1990 there was no more danger of being arrested for filming in East Berlin. Also, I have every reason to believe that there were no more Intershops (shops where you can buy things for hard currency).
When the wall went up in 1961 so some stations in the Russian sector of Berlin (ie: East Berlin) were sealed to stop people from using the transport to get to the Western sections of Berlin (British, French & American sectors, which became W. Berlin) Station platforms were patrolled by armed guards ordered to shoot to kill. Before the wall was erected the stations were used, as they are now.
I also do not like the ripples on the train sides - but this styling is used in both Russia and America!
The two doors is a problem, as this makes the trains slow at stations. But money is a problem, so the trains cannot be replaced. The U5 extension (U55) is more important!
simon
gee, no advertising posters and no cellphones..., i wish there would be a year like that
@JeffOrnstein01 It was probably the other way round, because the Berlin subway opened already in 1902 , 3 years before the New York subway (and construction startet in 1896). But the resemblence is also due to the fact, that in both cites the constructions of the subway lines and station followed the same method "cut and cover" and not like for instance in London by building deep tunnels in miners fashion. Also the stations got usually an even ceiling not curved like in paris.
The "GDR-trains" (BR G) are tastier than the old-styled western trains (BR A3L), thats my opinion. The only problem with the 2 doors is, that they're a long way away from each other.
@MaestroFire A city will never ever recover exactly as things were before. Sentimentality builds up for life as it was in the 'intervening' period.
For people born after the war who have only known the city as it was in the divided era so destroying everything they knew and replacing it with what their parents knew is not at all a welcome prospect.
Simon
yes, it took ages, and now that money has become in short supply some new projects cannot be completed - eg: U5 / U55.
Simon
Great footage.
well its all in Dutch, so I did not understand it. But it looks like a website about history.
Simon
Thanks.
I agree.
But I rarely watch the TV, as there is so little that is sensible on it.
simon
@MaestroFire How would you feel if someone came along and said that you could not live in the flat you had been in all your life because someone decided that they were going to 'bring back buildings from the great Prussian times'? Something tells me you would not be too pleased.
I also doubt that they are about to collapse at any moment.
yes, I filmed them myself - I specially went to Berlin in April 1990 to film some of the transports while Berlin was still two cities.
I am pleased that you and so many other people here seem to find my films to be of interest.
Simon
I was asking myself who would film this nerve-wrecking and depressing Berlin-U-Bahn, what was my daily torture for years on end and now! What a great time-travel. Well done. I remember the tilling (I am not sure, if this the right word) on the walls, who could easy to be found on any toilet and so was the smell. Weltstadt Berlin.
to macNjulia
Thanks for your comment, I am baffled why I do not see it here...
Simon
Do you have any videos of the U-Bahn system in Nazi Germany (1933-1945)? That would be very interesting.
I think they are, yes.
Simon
aaaahhh....thank you!
Nice idea, but not correct. The Baureihe G (Class G) was developed and built by VEB Lokomotivbau Elektrotechnische Werke (LEW) „Hans Beimler“ Hennigsdorf (GDR).
that's the U2 train at the beginning of the film
this brings memories for Daktari.