Berlin Wall: What happened to the trains?
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- Опубліковано 31 тра 2020
- Berlin Wall: What happened to the trains?
At the end of the Second World War, Berlin, like the rest of Germany, was divided by the Allied Powers. Soon, the zones would become two separate countries, West and East Berlin. In 1961, the division of Berlin became far more physical with the construction of the Berlin Wall. But what happened to Berlin's U-Bahn and S-Bahn trains?
David Frankal explores how Berlin's rail network was divided during the Cold War, and, after the Berlin Wall fell, how it was put back together again.
Disclaimer: This video is not original research and should not be treated as an academic source. Most of the information contained in the video is factual information from Wikipedia or Merrill (2015) (see below). The small bit of commentary at the end is my own. Images, footage and maps are my own unless labelled otherwise.
Watch Part 2, which will shed a bit more light on Berlin's mainline rail network, how Berlin's shiny new Hauptbahnhof came about, and what happened to all of Berlin's old stations from before the war:
• A Brief History of Ber...
Further reading/source (Merrill 2015):
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Featuring footage from citytransportinfo:
/ citytransportinfo
And thank you to Max Roberts (Tube Map Central) for the use of his digitally recreated Berlin S-Bahn Map:
tubemapcentral.com/
Music from UA-cam Library & Incompetech
incompetech.com/music/
I was born in 1961 and have experienced a good deal of this situation in Berlin.. I am deeply impressed that a young man like you has such a detailed and profound knowledge of the reality of those days... congratulations.. you did a wonderful job!
I too was born in 1961, have travelled to Berlin from New Zealand a few years ago. Always been interested in the wall because of the timing of its start.
I am at the moment in Berlin and it is sad to see how the majority of the Berlin people swallow the propaganda. You would think that they could smell false propaganda BS from a mile away but everywhere you go you see them wearing face diapers and without a face diaper you can't even enter a store. Really sad.
Ulrich Lehnhardt,
I'm not German. But, I've got say this........
I miss the old DDR. I have nothing but fond memories of DDR as a child. It was the safest city and cleanliest city in the world.
@@spidyman8853 "I'm not German" - well, maybe that's why. Don't get me wrong, life in GDR wasn't all about fear and suppression, there were some good aspects about it which is also why so-called "Ostalgia" exists among former GDR Germans, but they do not make up for all the bad: People spying on their neighbours and letting the Stasi know about "subversive activities or political views". A government that murdered their own people for trying to leave their country. Heavy pollution of air and rivers. Derelict buildings all over the country. Only the very centre of East Berlin where government and the communist party sites were located and where most western tourists visited was nice and clean and had a lot of modern buildings.
@@delilithkerk1130 It is sad that you choose to politicize a public health crisis.
Me as a german and somebody who wrote an exam work about this topic, can only say: Very well done!!!
by "exam work" you mean like... a report?
@@vajayna_eklhabouh I think an actual exam
@@vajayna_eklhabouh Yes, like that. I wrote it at the end of my studies at Cologne university in 2000, but it is all in german, of course. It is about 81 pages long, with pictures and line diagrams like those you have seen in this video.
@@henands69 When you conduct an extensive research about a certain topic/subject and then write about it, that is called a report... but maybes that's a Canadian way of calling it...
@@vajayna_eklhabouh Based on his additional answer, it sounds like "thesis" would be about the right term for it... 81 pages is more than just a regular term paper or report, at least in most American universities.
1974 a couple of Australians travelled from Amsterdam to West Berlin by train for a few days.
For a day trip we crossed into East Berlin via the underground, it was a surreal step back in time. We couldn't stay overnight because of the restrictions placed on us. Going through the border control at the station was quite an eye opener, we did consider turning back, but as 21 year olds we weren't going to pass this up. The train ride to the border passed through a number of stations at a slow speed with soldiers on the station, these stations were dimly lit. At the border station it was a maze of partitions and corridors with East German soldiers everywhere. I can't remember changing money, but we made our way to the surface, explored East Berlin, had lunch and then made our way back to West Berlin.
East Berlin was a broken down town, with derelict buildings everywhere. It had stood still since 1945 as I could remember.
The trip by train into East Germany was via a no mans land area at the border, the East Germans came onto the train and check everyone, soldiers were also outside the train with dogs checking underneath the train.
West Berlin was full of lights and people moving around enjoying thier freedom.
Our onward trip after our stay in West Berlin was by train to Budapest.
Another interesting memory.
The trip to East/West Berlin was a surreal trip, we were glad we made it.
Thank you for sharing that story!
Well, everybody taking that one-day visit to East-Berlin ("Berlin, Hauptstadt der DDR") had to be back at midnight, sharp. And imagine: You as an international traveller, together with the West-Germans, could show up at Checkpoint C or Tränenpalast and get the one-day visa, the poor West-Berliners (those who didn't possess a West-German Passport) had to apply up to weeks in advance at the so called Besucherbüros, adminstrative outposts of the East-German authorities in West-Berlin.
Thanks for your story - It inspired me to remember my own experience: I went to Berlin on holiday in 1981 and tried to get into East Berlin via the underground station too. I remember the stations on the East side being closed and darkened as the train rolled through them without stopping. But I do remember seeing some incredible old station design too. At the station checkpoint, I remember loads of wood panelling everywhere and possibly old chandeliers. My friends and I were separately summoned behind a row of closed doors. Several guards inspected my passport, but denied me entry to East Berlin because I was a punk and had a green mohican haircut at the time! My mate, who was "punky", did get let in, but apparently got some very strange looks from the locals for his spiky hair. I was later told that my refusal to get into East Germany was somehow transmitted on the West Berlin Forces radio service. My friends told me there was nothing to see in East Berlin and it was all very depressing there. They had trouble trying to spend the minimum amount of money they had to exchange, since there was no exchange back to DM at the border and no East German currency was allowed back either. West Berlin - at that time - was an amazing, bohemian place with all sorts of clubs, nightlife and interesting music. Fond memories!
@@MichaelDisney In East Berlin (being the - declared as such by the regime - "Hauptstadt der DDR") the authorities did not tolerate the presence of too outlandish looking people around public places which ought to represent the spirit and superiority of the system.
Prominent examples are Frank Schäfer and Sven Marquardt (THE Berghain bouncer), who were frequently harassed by the Volkspolizei.
@@MichaelDisney And btw, my first East Berlin experience dated back to 1984, and I, too, had difficulties in spending the 25 Marks mandatory exchange. The really cool stuff was too expensive, the standard consumer goods and services so cheap, that you simply couldn't spend it. I ended the visit with putting down the remaining money around a fountain close to Friedrichstraße station.
@@praeceptor Yes, my friends who got in said they gave their currency away too, apart from a few notes smuggled back in shoe soles. I went originally because of the Sex Pistols' song "Holidays in the Sun", seeing the film "Christiane F", and because a friend met a Berliner girl on another holiday and promised to go see her. West Berlin was a bit like "Blade Runner" for me. We met a bunch of bohemians, who agreed to show us a good time in return for buying them drinks. The arrangement lasted all holiday... Maybe it was exaggeratedly outlandish and care-free there as a counterpoint to the strict and grey East Berlin, just over the wall.
One of my co-workers was born in East Germany (pre-war) and told me of some of his adventures. When the Berlin Wall went up, dividing Berlin, the subway system was still functioning with regular trains between West and East. The East German Police were focusing on anybody heading to the West side, that had anything larger than a small briefcase, as they were most likely not returning. My friend left with a small case as though he was going to work, and was not stopped. He also told me, that he was conscripted to drive a Tiger II tank during the 'Battle of the Bulge', he was only 14 then.
My German Grandfather was, throughout his lifetime, a locomotive engineer. Beginning in 1939 until his retirement in 1960, he drove the Paris-Berlin Express from the German-Belgium border to Berlin (after the war, West Berlin), and then back again to the Belgium-German border the following day. I wish now I had been able to ask him what that experience was like.
Everybody always yakking about their (grand)father....what have YOU done with your life?
Chill my g, he’s just telling a story :)
@@tresbobsterbob7143 Guess sven's grandpa did jack shit, why else would he feel so offended?
I think I had the pleasure of sitting in a coach behind your Grandfathers Locomotive:) and it was a thing I remember to this day.
You might not want to know of his activities as a train driver during the war.
7:10 Small correction, there were no glass walls. Friedrichstraße station was a complicated labyrinth, some parts accessible to westerners and some to easterners only. They were sealed off from each other by solid walls. The separation between platforms A and B (west) and platform C (east), which you might be thinking of, was made of steel.
I missed out going under the East in 1985. Caught the wrong train at Teirgarten. Are there any photos of the Vorpos guarding the platforms at Freidrekstrassse. Friends said the trains stopped while gaurds checked UNDER the train with mirrors. I will forever regret missing that.
10:45 I remember travelling parallel with an Eastern train with just a wire fence separating us. At Potsdammer Platz, the tramlines finished at the Wall. From the West, they looked like they went under the Wall.
I like how you described the Wall as "falling". It took much hard pushing and thousands of tourist hammers to knock it over.
As far as I remember, the overground West Berlin S-Bahn line between the ZOO and Friedrichstrasse stations was a dead end single track line. There were bumpers and a wall. It was like a Western peninsula about 2 km long inside the East Berlin. The train driver would stop, walk out, shut the door and walk to the opposite end of the train and begin a new westbound drive back to the West Berlin. The platform was surrounded by walls made from opaque glass, so nobody standing on the ground level outside the Friedrichstrasse Station building would see it. As the author said, there was a transit line for long distance trains, i.e. Paris-Moscow. The tracks were parallel to the dead end line from the ZOO station. If the train was on the way, let's say from Moscow to Paris, the train would stop and East German Border Guards would begin their job. They had to make sure that only authorized passengers, with passports and exit visas were on the train. It would last usually between 30 and 60 minutes. When the train was cleared it would start moving westbound about 2km until it crossed the actual border near Reichstag. There was no passport control or customs in West Berlin. After about 1 hour stay in West Berlin, usually at the ZOO station, the train would start moving to westbound again where it crossed Berlin Wall into East Germany again and East German Border Guards had to do their job again: Making sure that all passengers on the train had valid passports and and that they were not on the DDR persona non grata black list. Then it was cleared again to travel westbound across East Germany until it arrived at the real East - West Germany border and again East German Border Guards were walking along the train making sure that all passengers had valid passports or exit visas if they were East German citizens. Yes, East German citizens must have had Ausreisevisum stamped into their national ID booklets. Seems complicated but that was the reality until 1989 :)
@@dx7388 Sorry, I actually meant the U Bahn.
I didn't realise the U Bahn went under the Wall into the East, consequently when the train came into Zoo pointing east, I thought it would turn round or as you say, the driver walks to the other end. My two friends accidentally went under the East and described it to me but i had no time to go back and experience it for myself.
@@capcompass9298 yes, there were three Westberlin undergound U-Bahn lines under Eastberlin. As you can see in the map shown in the video, two lines were stopping at Friedrischstrasse only and the third line was running non-stop under the whole section of Eastberlin. In 1989 it took a trip to see and experience what it feels like being in the West when another country, East Germany is just a few meters over your head. I think most ghost stations had East Germans soldiers on duty. There were cabins with some source of light. Platforms were covered with dust as if abandoned decades ago.
@@dx7388 Thanks for that. I wish someone had taken a photo. I was interested in the Wall and border but my friends weren't.
We were staying at Camping Wannasee in the far SW of Berlin; the campingplatz with an abandoned bridge. I cycled from there in January 1990 and found a hole in the Wall in a forest area. I stuck my head through into the killing zone when a West German came from behind and asked if i wanted to see the small eastern village on the other side. I thought he'd show me around but he strode off down the village street so i returned to the West to lock my bike. As I was locking up, a Vorpo motored up on a motorbike, stuck his head into the West and said, "Hallo", looked around and left. Being a foreigner, I decided not to go back to the East as I had done (illegally. The Vorpo and I decided to stay on our own sides of the Wall.
On Google maps, is the Berlin-Brandenburg border the line of the Wall? I'm trying to find the village I visited.
As a Berliner I must say: astonishingly accurate and good video about this interesting part of our history. Thanks!
Astonishing is the word, I can't believe that he got it so right.
That'sexactly what I thought.
He did a great job. It's actually hard now to explain life at the time - even to Berliners. Memories fade quickly.
Würd ick ooch sagen.
If you're watching this now, how did you find this video? Let me know!
Edit: And where are you watching from?
Oddly enough this was the first video to show after watching an unbelievably dull video of HS2!
youtube magic suggested it to me, probably based on my interests?
oh hey, it was suggested by youtube
One of the suggestions scrolling the home page.
suggested by youtube
Fun fact: For the short while the BVG operated the S-Bahn until DB took over, they were not happy about having to operate a full-scale railway system that ran according to the rule book of a proper railway network. Because so far they had only every operated trains that ran according to the so-called BO-Strab (Betriebsordnung Straßenbahn, operational ruleset tram). Because in Germany, underground trains are legally trams. So despite the U-Bahn being a rather large scale operation, they still didn't have to deal with the laws of a railway until they got the S-Bahn.
You did kind of forget that bit, that the BVG was briefly responsible for the S-Bahn. They even comissioned a new trainset delivery, the class 480.
He got that part.
Having lived in Berlin 1982-1992 I remember the ghost stations the whole thing was pretty surreal.
Berlin Wall - What happened to the trains? An interesting question in so far, that some trains were directly affected by the construction of the wall. When the U1 was devided between Schlesisches Tor and Warschauer Straße (Warschauer Brücke in those days), several trains of A II stock were still standing there and in the Rudolfstraße train yard next to it. They were taken to the central train yard of the U-Bahn in East Berlin at Friedrichsfelde by special road transporters, to serve Line A, the eastern half of todays U2. North of Berlin, between Velten and Hennigsdorf, there was an S-Bahn service, completely isolated from the rest of the network from 1961 - 1983. They had a small train yard at Velten to maintain the trains. Later it was closed and the trains were replaced by loco hauled ones and being transferred to East Berlin. Something similar happened between Oranienburg and Hohen Neuendorf, but only until this line was connected to the eastern network by new tracks. When the Ringbahn (circle line) was devided between Treptower Park and Sonnenallee, a complete S-Bahn train of 8 carriages stood there at noman's land, from the 13th August 1961 until November that year. The reason was, that the tracks were cut off in front and behind that train. Then one day, a temporary track was installed and the train was pulled back by a diesel loco to the eastern network.
In 1987, when the Ostbahnhof (East Station) was renamed Hauptbahnhof (Central Station), I was the person who translated all the tourist information on the touch-panel machines from German into English. Happy days.
Today, the Ostbahnhof is back to using that name and a different, new station in West Berlin has assumed the name Hauptbahnhof.
Very interresting to hear.
4:30: A small clarification: although Checkpoint Charlie was on Friedrichstraße, it was a different crossing point from Bahnhof Friedrichstraße (I used both in 1971!). They were about a mile apart, and for slightly different categories of traveller, although foreigners could use either.
This is an excellent video. Extremely well researched and accurate.... I'm really impressed.
I lived in Berlin in the 1980s, and was fascinated by these arrangements.... I rode these trains all the time on days off, I got to know the intricacies of the system and the arrangement and for the most part you are *spot on*!
There are a few minor inaccuracies - but these are *really, really* minor compared to the incredibly accurate research you have done. This is so much better than most of what you find on UA-cam
7:00 - The separation at Friedrichstrass was a metal wall, at the top of the wall there was some opaque glass, but there was no way to see through. It was really weird changing trains there and knowing just on the other side, East Berliner commuters were simply going to work. After the wall came down, a friend told me it was so depressing standing on the East side, waiting for the train to Alexanderplatz day-in, day-out, knowing on the other side of that metal wall, trains were leaving for Paris and Copenhagen...
8:02 - The Tränenpalast was the *only* way for normal people to cross the Berlin border from east to west if they wanted to take the train. The crossing from west to east was behind you at the start of the video.
9:00 - the trains operated from West Germany to West Berlin were "Transitzüge" operated by DB to the border, then by DR from the border on to Berlin. They were stringently checked at the border stations (eg Marienborn & Greibnitzsee) but (as far as I know) no-one was allowed on or off. The personnel on the trains changed at the borders. The trains had a mix of DB and DR carriages. The DR carriages stank of anti-lice disinfectant.
These however were not Interzonenzügen. The Interzonenzügen went between other cities in East and West Germany, avoiding Berlin. Strict border formalities then took place at the border eg in Marienborn.
Very good video.
Back in the late 1970s I had to choose a topic for a geography project at school at that age of about 14 and chose to study Berlin which was then firmly split between East and West. My father had a fairly important job in the British civil service as a nuclear scientist which required him to go to Germany and Berlin (for a reason that I have forgotten) and he was forbidden to travel to the East unless he went with a younger colleague who was 'expendable' (yes, I know, it sounds very James Bond).
He brought back some books about the city and these intrigued me, and for some reason, I distinctly remember the issues regarding the U-Bahn where it crossed the border. To this day, the city still fascinates me, and yet I have never visited the city.
Your description still resonates with my old school project about Berlin.
I station in West Berlin in winter 1965 & 1966. The wall was built right around W Berlin. I was driving my M112 track Troop Carrier. The rail of the Trams was the same width as my tracks. It was in Dec 1965 and it had rained and then snowed a lot. I don’t remember was Strass I was on but was to turn left and drive along the street next to the wall. So I tried to turn but my track got hung up in tram tracks. Trying to stop and all did was slide into the wall. I thought the guards were going to open. They did by laughing so hard I ended up laughing with. Spend sand on the raid back up. Wave a salute to them and drove away.
tl;dr: Not even the cold war could stand in the way of the German love of trains.
Enginering laws are universal. DB and DR engineers/ mechanics were proud of their knowledge and expertise.
Lots of former DR build engines (V60-V100) were refurbished and sold into Europe after the wall came down.
Even the RAW Meiningen steam repairshop became the modern DB steam and special workshop for museums and special rail equipment worldwide.
Only the political system divided Germany.
It takes sadly still 2-3 genrations till all wounds and scars of the split have disapeard.
Traveling long distance by train in Germany is something i recomend
I travelled Amsterdam- Berlin and Hamburg - Viena.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bahn today is a laughing stock in Germany. Germans routinely complain about poor service, etc.
@@tookitogo When politicians with no specific knowledge for that vital companny ( infrastructure, transport, power, etc etc) act like they are runing such a companny you only get Shit, Scheisse, Stront, Merde......
@@obelic71 very true!
As an east german, i miss the old S-Bahn trains..... the new ones suck... Some call them "heuler" (howlers) because of the howling sound they make as they accelerate.
Very interesting. I visited Berlin as an American student in 1968 and learned about and saw the S-Bahn running through West Berlin, where it definitely was hated. In the company of one of our profs, I also crossed over into Friedrichstrasse Station and never forgot the barbed wire barriers on the bridge or the East German guards with submachine guns and German Shepard dogs who greeted us on the platform as we exited the train. Damn scary! Visiting East Berlin was one of the most memorable travel experiences of my youth. Thanks for the reminder and functional discussion!
Fun facts: During the Berlin airlift, salt was flown in to West Berlin on Short Sunderland flying boats, which landed on (IIRC) big lakes, they used flying boats as they had the necessary corrosion resistance as sea planes. Also, in the 1980s there was a faint echo of the Berlin Wall as Austrian trains could pass through Germany (in the EEC) outside the Austrian customs area and you could get a train called a 'Korridorzug' 'corridor train' which passed through Germany in sealed carriages when passing from one part of Austria to another via Germany, avoiding the need for customs and passport checks.
*What a remarkable piece of a history, seen through railways, we need to remember and childrens need to learn of.* Thank You for the video!
On a serious note, excellent and really interesting video.
On a less serious note, I had a pretty much identical hairstyle between 1978 and 1983. And it still makes me a bit sad that I can’t have my hair back at gigs or when listening to certain albums! 😃
Thank You David for a wonderful A+ video, it is people like you that make youtube fun to watch.
I never knew about the things you taught me, it was educational to say the least.
I am a fan now, subscribing and will watch part 2 now.
Keep up your good work as a younger generation educating us older folks, I love it, inspirational !!
schlesiches straße, the endboss for all english speakers :)
For every
schlesiches straße pronounced by western european there is some Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz in Poland waiting to meet his german.
nah, go visit leipzig and pronounce zschochersche straße.
@@yetzt зохоше штрасе, if google translate sounds right. That's easy, I'm russian.
@@bagamax close, but not quite. a bit more like Дзшохоше штрасе :D
"geisterbahnhofen", "tranenplatzt", "wollankenstrasse"... srsly nobody forced you to put all those lists of station names in your script, might as well figure out how to pronounce them...
It's very nice to understand Berlin's railway history under cold war.
Great video and good summary of the development of the Berlin Wall. Thanks for this. 👍😀
My pleasure!
I have never thought about this before, but was immensely curious upon seeing the title. Great video!
Thank you for this. Enjoyed it very much. Informative and not trying to be unnecessarily funny at all times. Subscribed.
I visited Potsdamer Platz station in 1991 while it was rebuilt. It was a trip back in time, with old commercials on the walls dating from 1961 etc, just amazing. I somewhere read of a story that every once in a while East Berliners somehow managed to escape through some subway tunnels near Jannowitzbrücke onto the U8 tracks and were there picked up by slow driving West-Berlin U8 trains. Until GDR border controls closed that gap.
Thank you for a well done documentary. Brings back memories of youth and a time that in contrast to modern day Berlin and Germany seems to me as completely out of this world. And the best Germany that ever existed, the extremely liberal West sectors of Berlin, together with West Germany, ceased to exist. I'm still missing them.
This has been one of the best information Documentaries that I have seen. The subject matter has been presented clearly and concisely. Keep up the excellent work.
Having been a musician living in West Berlin in the 80's - with an obsession with railways, I found this fascinating, but a little sad. I realise I miss the grime, the fear, and the Character of those old lines. Many Thanks though!
I wonder why people has obsession with railways... (not that I condemn them)
Berlin back then had character. All of that was completely removed and now Berlin is a faceless, identity-less undecipherable & unrecognizable mess. And i say that as a native Berliner…
This is absolutely brilliant. Thank you for this.
Combines my favourite city with one of my interests. Kudos
David you have done an amazing job with this video and you approached the subject of division with such decoram.
You are doing a great job! You'll be the next Geoff Marshall!
no one will be able to replace Geoff tho
More like the northern Geoff
He's Geoff and Vicky all in one
Now THAT is a supreme compliment
High quality work - congrats from someone who loves both Berlin and trains.
Why hasn’t this got more views? Really well done dude, I can‘t think of any bit of information you could have missed. And I should know, as I work at DB and live directly at Wollankstraße. :D
I was not expecting this kind of thoroughness from an outsider. It's amazingly good.
Wait... But you're not the person I know who works for DB and lives at Wollankstr. Maybe you two should meet 😂
@@eddierich6179 Oh, whats his prename? :D
@@asymmetree2748 Marvin.
@@eddierich6179 Ok then I think I do not know him :/ :D
Fun fact: in the 90s, politicians promised to reconstruct the S-Bahn network in the state of 1961, as after the wall construction, many routes were closed, left to rot, demolished and never reopened again. Didn't happen.
Also, many portions of the network were reduced to single-track-operation (in both directions) after the war due the rails being dismantled and shipped to Russia as war reparations. Those portions weren't reconstructed to double tracks until this day as well. Moreover, during major refurbishments, the single-track portions aren't upgraded and even during construction of new routes, some are planned to be built as single-track ones, which is not worthy of such a big city like Berlin, even if this applied to the suburbs. To make it even more irrational, the percentage of single-track routes is currently much higher than it was before 1961.
For those interested in the topic, here I'm writing down a list of routes existing before '61, but than closed and never reopened:
> Spandau - Falkensee (reconstruction planned / under investigation)
> Spandau - Staaken (won't be reconstructed again, as for now)
> "Siemensbahn" Jungfernheide - Gartenfeld (reconstruction planned, reopening scheduled for 2029, 100 years after initial opening)
> Hennigsdorf - Velten (reconstruction planned / under investigation)
> "Heidekrautbahn" Basdorf - Wilhelmsruh [- Gesundbrunnen] (not part of the S-Bahn, but equally affected by the wall, reconstruction starting soon)
> Blankenfelde [Fläming] - Rangsdorf (reconstruction rather likely to happen, especially due to the fact that it would also connect the Rolls-Royce factory in Dahlewitz to the S-Bahn network)
> Lichterfelde Süd - Teltow (the old route, pretty sure it won't ever come back)
> "Friedhofsbahn" Wannsee - Stahnsdorf (proposed, reconstruction unsure, just as the also proposed Stahnsdorf - Teltow connector)
This is a brilliant video and looks like you went to a great deal of research for this one! Well done!
A very good film which includes a little of my footage (with my agreement). As David says, back in 1989 no-one actually expected the wall to open in the way it did - I recall (in the months before it opened) seeing TV news reports about some East Germans on holiday in other Soviet Bloc nations being able to meet relatives who had travelled from the West, and I feel sure that some Easterners were even able to escape to the west via another Soviet Bloc nation, but we here in the UK still had a greater expectation of Soviet nuclear ICBM's raining down upon us than the wall opening.
Then, suddenly, on a November evening I saw on ITN News at Ten the most shocking (in a nice way) news report about the wall being opened and scenes of bewildered jubilation ...
Before 1989 there were no restrictions between DDR, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Citizens of these three countries could get into their cars and travel to their neighbours. They had to show their national ID at the border and that's it. But for example, Bulgarians and Romanians needed some extra papers and documents if they wanted to travel out of their countries. Poland: Due to the economic and political crisis there were some restrictions. Hungary was the only country allowing Polish citizens in just with their national ID. East Germany and Czechoslovakia required a formal invitation, confirmed and stamped by their police. The national ID in Poland was similar to the one in East Germany, it was a booklet smaller than a passport. There was a blue stamp with the list of countries, where the holder could travel to: DDR, USSR, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Romania. I heard that until 1977 there was Yugoslavia in the stamp but due to thousands escaping from Yugoslavia to Italy, the Polish government cancelled validity of the blue stamp and new ones was issued, without Yugoslavia.
part two of my reply: the national ID issued to citizens of Eastern Europe was NOT valid to cross borders to West Berlin. East German border guards wouldn't let you out of DDR to West Berlin. Validity was restricted to the Eastern bloc only. I don't know how was it in other Eastern bloc countries, but in Poland if you wanted to cross the border, let;s say to East Germany, apart from the ID another booklet was needed: a currency booklet. It looked like a passport. Before your intended travel abroad you had to visit the national bank or a state owned travel office (private didn't exist then) and buy East German marks. The maximum amount was 700 Marks for 2 years. This transaction was confirmed by stamps and you were given banknotes. When you arrived at the border everything was checked very carefully: your ID, the currency booklet, the formal invitation stamped and confirmed by the DDR police and a departure card. Then you were let out of Poland. East German border guards were easier: a quick look at your ID and you could go. Simply they knew that minutes ago their counterparts did their job properly. Later in the 80s, 1986 I think, national ID were replaced with real passports, but there was a restriction: there was the same stamp restricting the validity to Eastern block countries. So, you had a passport but you still couldn't go to West Berlin. In 1989 political changes came and everybody could get a stamp: Valid in all countries of the world.
@draqon ofwhitestars which government media has rusophobia, or we're supposed not to criticize your dear leader Mr. Putin?
Well done for being able to present a very complex subject in a succinct, clear and watchable form!
This was really interesting to watch and I feel I've learned something. Good job, thank you!
Absolutely fantastic video, I knew hardly any of this, well done mate
v good doc mate, well done.
i am fascinated by divided Berlin and in particular how the transport system worked.
looking forward to part II.
I was born in W. Berlin in the early 50s as a german citizen. I lived in Berlin Steglitz until 1960 when my stepdad received orders to go to Ft. Bragg. Young man, You have done your research very well. Thank you.
An excellent and extremely well presented documentary. Wish I had come across it earlier. In the early 70's and mid/late 80's used many of those services you describe, routes and border crossings (road, rail, S-Bahn, U-Bahn and by foot) regularly. All these "accommodations" between the East and West authorities did not just cover transport, but the disposal of rubbish, sewers, etc.
Very interesting video. Love how clear and detailed the information about transport during this era was delivered. Learned a lot.
Very good video! Thank you for putting it together and posting!
This is a fantastic documentary of what happened. Great job!
Excellent piece of work, very interesting and informative. Thanks and looking forward to more
As a dependent from an Allied country growing up in Berlin in the 70s, we couldn't take the S-Bahn.
We lived close enough to The Wall in the south of the city where S-Bahns did travel overground.
(Me and me brother flattened a lot of pfennigs along those tracks back then.)
Still, discovering the city on the U-Bahn in my teens will always be some of my most cherished memories.
Thank you for this awesome compilation!
The U-Bahn rides through/under East Berlin were also off-limits to U.S. military personnel in the 60's and 70's but in the orientation for new soldiers they weren't mentioned, as they were remote from most areas frequented by them. I neglected to ask. In turn, my sergeants and officers never asked how I knew so much about them. Had there been an accident I might have ended up in an East Berlin hospital and that would have created a kerfuffle, but otherwise it was harmless.
Very well done, I'll be waiting for part 2.
You can watch it here! ua-cam.com/video/KWivzz3nco8/v-deo.html
Excellent ! From a train enthusiast point of view, here are precisions with the rolling stock: DR operating the whole S-Bahn means that West Berlin still used trains from the 1920's until the 1990's ! When BVG took over in the 80's, they introduced a new train: the DB BR 480. The prototype came in the late 80's, the actual trains in the 1990's. In East Berlin DR introduced several "new trains" (they were basically the 1920's trains with new features pasted on them) before they made an actual new train in the 80's: the DB BR 485 (still in service I believe). It's also DR who came up with the famous Berlin S-Bahn doors closing chime (the "doo dee doo"). For the U-Bahn, in the West they regularly had new trains but in the East, they used 4 train types: a few West Berlin D trains (still in service today on the U55 and in North Korea), the EIII which is just a copy paste of the DB BR 477 on the E (U5) line, the GI/1E on the A (U2) line, still in use today, and the original 1904 AI trains on both the A and E lines. As for the trams, they were 3 types: the Reko trams, which ran until the 90's, the Tatra T6A2, which were still in service a few years ago and the Tatra KT4D which are still in service today.
12:14 West Berlin also had Buses on the freeway parallel to the S-Bahn as competition.
Line 84 opened in 1970 or 71 with the city autobahn. It was nice if one was riding through, but waiting at the stops on the side of the autobahn was terrible due to the noise and pollution. And it wasn't very useful because it was pointed at areas with low demand in the divided city.
As someone who lived in West Berlin in the 1980s I found this accurate, well researched and informative - and with quite a bit of detail I wasn’t aware of - thank you!
Hey thank you so much for uploading your Video and this excellent Explanation..great made and nice to see how many interested you are in History,thanks again
Nicely done on a little known issue - and a fascinating conclusion. Thanks!
Enjoyed this David.
Such incredible knowledge and detail. Thank you.
The best video, and information, I have seen on this issue which fascinates me.
Thanks for an amazing , well presented and searched material.
I remember taking the troop train from frankfurt to berlin. What an experience.
Very well presented. Cheers for this vid!
Great video! Thanks for making this :)
Thanks for sharing this. I have wondered about this topic since my visit to Berlin years ago.
Fascinating! Thanks for all that research and detail.
Enjoyed this film! As a younger family from Australia, we travelled to Germany in 1973- Well it was West- then from Frankfurt to West Berlin. Had family there, many times travelled by trains criss-crossing the city, partly through the East as well. My sister-in-law lived very close to the wall, really a large open space. Also after a lot of form filling we did travel into the East, visited Dresden. Stayed with other family about an hour's drive from there. All up we were in the East for two weeks, and total trip was one year! Was wonderful, two children went to school not knowing much German! They loved it too, so educational.. ❤️🇦🇺
This is a fascinating and well put together video
Brilliant! Look forward to part 2 :)
It's here: ua-cam.com/video/KWivzz3nco8/v-deo.html
Thank you for this video. It's interesting all the way through and your pronunciation is actually quite good :)
This is such a surreal and scary topic to think about when you can just freely enjoy the BVG network everyday nowadays
Nice documentary. You certainly did your homework, as the situation was complicated. I found that out while visiting East Berlin numerous times in the 1970's. Thanks.
I am so thankful for your information. I iived in Berlin from 1993 to 2000, and didn't spend a thought on how the railway network works. I just noticed that west Berlin had busses, whereas east Berlin had trams.
In fact there was some struggling with the merger, as the BVG (West) took over the BVB (Ost) and there were hints that the tram network was to be abolished. When I visited in 2002, the planners and schedulers for the trams who I spoke with were run down, tired veterans of the Ost system. I have the impression that public pressure led to the change in philosophy, along with the fact that newer lines were in fact Light Rail running in separate right-of-ways into areas with little or no rapid transit service.
An interesting video. I visited West Berlin for a couple of weeks in 1977 and travelled on the U6 line on a few occasions as it linked the French and American sectors. It was very spooky going through the closed stations under East Berlin as the lights were dimmed and the train slowed to about 10 mph; each had a couple of armed East German border guards standing on the platform, surrounded by aging adverts from the early 1960s. Friedrichstrasse was different, being a busy, fully functioning station, albeit with armed guards positioned at the exits. I believe that many of the travellers using it had diplomatic status.
Great content! Thanks for the video!
I wish I'd taken more photographs when I was in East Berlin, but it was very intimidating.
Thank you for this insight into the separation and merging of the systems.
Having visited Berlin in 2017, I found your video fascinating. All the bus tour guide said was the 'trains just didn't stop' going through East Berlin. Thank you for explaining it.
Informative video and thank you for sharing. The wall went up and down in my lifetime and I knew from history that phone lines and power cables were just slashed but I never thought about the trains in the city. The only train I was aware of was the military one that went to West Germany to West Berlin. Subscribed!
Fascinating information about a topic I, as an Australian, have only very general knowledge about. Great informative work.
Sehr interessantes Video. Ich habe mich mit dem Thema zwar schon etwas beschäftigt gehabt, habe aber trotzdem viel neues erfahren. Ganz toll gemacht und super recherchiert. Vielen Dank.
Fascinating film David! The cold war and railways are two of my passions, and this film combines both of them :) :)
Very interesting documentary on transport in Berlin during the cold war can't wait for part 2
Nice to see with so much information!
Very interesting. I worked in Berlin about 15 years ago and rode from the "east" where I lived and worked in the "west". Friends told me of how it worked, but this clarified it. Thanks for posting.
I visited Berlin in February 1988, so only few months before the fall of the wall. Differently from most travellers, my base was in East Berlin (visited with a touring orchestra), so I asked an extra visa for a day in West Berlin. I remember the queue under the rain at the Tränenpalast, a very strict immigration procedure, the Friedrichstrasse station divided in sectors and the S-Bahn in the east sector.
Excellent video. Well researched and a wonderful insight into what must have been a traumatic time for Berliners. Although I travelled Europe on Inter Rail in 1974 & 1976 I never ventured behind the iron curtain, but have since been to Berlin several times and your commentary has given me a greater understanding of the reasons behind some of the oddities of the current network. A really good station to visit nowadays to get a feeling for what life was like when the 'wall' existed is Nordbahnhof... don't know if you have covered this in part 2 as I have not seen that yet.
Excellent work on the Berlin train network, a subject that has interested me for years.
An excellent film. Very thorough and comprehensive research and well presented. A great job. Hugely informative. Thank you so much.
Did that crossing with my cousin in July 1989. Quite a scary experience at the border, and then when you saw East Berlin coming out of the station, it was like going back 30 years in time! Never forget that! Btw, love your hair;-)
And then to think my dad even secretly recorded going through Checkpoint Charlie... (and for all the (now) teenagers: there was no such thing as a smartphone of other (silent!) solid state recording device!).
My dad had an 8 mm camera running in a bag on the floor. The recordings unfortunately seem to have been lost when my grandma moved to her last home a couple of years ago and upon removal of her furniture, finding a load of cans with 8mm film in it. After reviewing them, most were tossed and my dad still thinks he chucked his Checkpoint Charlie film with it.
Great video. I had not thought about the logistical problems of the Berlin Wall before.
I was for a few days in Berlin in March 1990 for the first time, by train from the Netherlands: after the Berlin Wall had fallen but with the old boarders still in place. It was a strange experience but I did also realise how special it was to be able whitness it, to make the Journey and see both West- en East Berlin. I will never forget passing the boarder at Helmstedt: that was in a way overwhelming: soldiers on every coach and passing a long railwaysection surrounded by concrete and barbed wire (the same at the boarder between Potsdam and West Berlin). But.... I like Berlin a lot, have been there several times now and thank you for this very, very informative video.
Don't get me wrong, but I really look forward to seeing you do more of your videos covering such interesting topics with the production value increasing over time.
Great topic. enjoyed this very much. Well done
It was a different time and world. East Berliners were accustomed to seeing Vietnamese and Mozambicans on their trains but an American was rare enough that everyone on the train car would be conscious of it.
GDR trains to/from Pankow that traveled through the restricted border zone had excellent views of the barriers and Grenztruppen.
Wollankstrasse station had posters advertising Interflug the GDR airline.
I love Berlin and I’ve always been fascinated about the Cold War era as I was only a child when the Wall fell in 1989.
This is an amazing and well-researched video. Kudos to you! 👍🏻
Very interesting, very detailed video! thank you for the info!
Nice narration! Well spoken, and very informative.
I was born in Berlin but never heard of the m Bahn until now 😅
Thanks for teaching me something new!
unless my memory is muddling with time, i am certain i saw the raised bed within which the m train was meant to travel -spring 1981
Thank you for this informative video!
Great video! Keep up the good work :)
Really really good, ich freue mich sehr auf den zweiten Teil :)
Haha, thank you!
Very interesting. Thanks for making this.
Fantastic video, very eye opening and solved my question which bothers me since I was little.
But how you directly pronounced Straße to “strasse” really infuriates me lmao
He is British, thats how they always pronounced it.