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.
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!
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
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.
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
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.
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.
rosenthaler und jannowitz waren shcon wieder offen, mit deren großen verteilerhallen und vielen eingängen konnte man relativ schnell einen grenzübergang schaffen.
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.
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 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!
(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
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.
@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
@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
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
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
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
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.
@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?
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?
(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...
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?
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)
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
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
@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?
@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.
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!
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)
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.
@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.
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
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.
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
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.
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).
@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.
I think that was German, although I've no idea what was said. The onboard microphone was not very good and anyway it was so flimsily fitted that it soon broke off. These reasons explain why I later switched to using a higher quality plug-in Panasonic microphone that was designed to work with the camcorder and was even powered directly from the camcorder - so that I never had to remember to switch it on / off or change the battery.
@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.
Why would there be high- and low-profile Underground trains in Berlin though? In London I can understand, since the tunnels were built using two different construction methods and have different dimensions (older subsurface tunnels taller than newer deep-level tunnels, hence deep-level tunnels can't accommodate the high-profile subsurface trains e.g. S Stock and will only allow low-profile deep-level trains e.g. 1973 or 1996 Stock to run through). But do similar infrastructure constraints exist in Berlin?
So do any infrastructure constraints like those in London affect the Berlin Underground though? The London Underground's infrastructure constraints arose from the limited technology available for building the Metropolitan and District Lines in the 1860s. Back then the only viable method to build tunnels was to dig deep, wide trenches at surface level and then building a roof over it, with cuttings at station ceilings to allow exhaust gases from steam trains (only available rolling stock then; in fact the first Underground trains in London were ex-mainline) to escape. When the TBM method was use to build the Northern Line in the 1890s, the Central, Bakerloo and Piccadilly Lines in the 1900s and the Victoria and Jubilee Lines from the 1960s to the 90s, the tunnels were further below ground, narrower and fully enclosed, hence the trains used needed a lower profile and needed to be electric. But for Berlin, were the planners forced to dig narrow tunnels for lines 1 to 4 (low-profile) before technology advanced to the point that they could dig wider tunnels for lines 5 to 9 (high-profile)? After all they don't distinguish between sub-surface and deep-level; only between high and low profile
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?
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
@MaestroFire A good part of it comes from rent controls, along with other gov't interventions. When there is no price flexibility, the consequence is deterioration of the living conditions in this type of housing. To fix up these places, prices would necessarily need to go up in order to pay for it. It has turned out to hurt more than it helps. Unintended consequences of good intentions...
some opened within weeks of the fall of the wall, the rest opened over time. Nowadays Berlin is very much a unified city, except perhaps in thought patterns of older people who lived there when the place was divided and for whom the 'other' part of the was foreign.
no/ very little work was done on the tracks during this time and trains from the west often rode very slowly or sometimes even stoped at stations in the east in protest against this. Some stations even had the platforms completely walled off to prevent east berliners jumping on the passing trains.
@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
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!)
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.
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!
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 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...
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.
Its amazing how clean it is.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
rosenthaler und jannowitz waren shcon wieder offen, mit deren großen verteilerhallen und vielen eingängen konnte man relativ schnell einen grenzübergang schaffen.
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.
Thanks for posting this. Going through the closed U-Bahn stations reminds me of my summer spent there with my grandparents in 1981.
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 one of the coolest vids I have seen here. THANK YOU for uploading this!
Ah I remember riding past the closed East Berlin stations in '84...man it was so weird and creepy!
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 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!
I love these videos from right after the berlin wall -- thanks!
I was just there this year. Had visited in 74, 88. There's color and life to area now.
8:50 U-Bhf. Weinmeisterstraße, kurz vor der Wiedereröffnung.
Rosenthaler Platz dagegen war schon wieder offen (U8)
(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
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?
I agree.
Thanks for your comment.
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
@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
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
Stadtmitte rings a bell, actually. Danke schön.
Your video brought back a lot of memories.
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
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
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.
Many, many thanks for this timeline.
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.
@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?
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?
(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...
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?
to macNjulia
Thanks for your comment, I am baffled why I do not see it here...
Simon
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.
stimmt ja. die damalige BVB hatte ja glaube ich auf Großprofil nur die Doras. was ist das eigentlich für ein zug bei 1:04?
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
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
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
Are these trains still in service on the Berlin U-bahn.
@EvanC0912 It was a gift from London Transport - I think they gave it in 1968.
Excellent footage, a very interesting watch!
@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?
@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.
Intresting, I never knew that. I guess you learn something new everyday.
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!
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! :-)
Great video. Very insightful.
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.
especially at the closed stations, with the local people not really understanding why they can hear and feel something...
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.
And of course also from me many thanks to Simon for this valuable video !!
The gift from london transport was the 'London style' station name sign on the wall
simon
Have you filmed these videos by yourself? They are very interesting.
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
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.
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
Thanks.
You are welcome.
Simon
Thanks.
Simon
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!
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
(cont...)
Also weird was standing in a street in East Berlin and hearing / feeling the trains passing below.
Simon
welche geisterbahnhöfe hast du durchfahren ??
bernauer str?... war der rosenthaler platz auch ein grenzbahnhof aber im Apr.90 schon wieder offen ???
If the wall was knocked down in 1989, how can the city still be divided in 1990?
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.
yes, it took ages, and now that money has become in short supply some new projects cannot be completed - eg: U5 / U55.
Simon
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'
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).
Great footage.
Do you have any videos of the U-Bahn system in Nazi Germany (1933-1945)? That would be very interesting.
@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.
audio recording quality was sooo bad back then that I cannot understand/find german language................ at 5:44 is that in russian ?
I think that was German, although I've no idea what was said. The onboard microphone was not very good and anyway it was so flimsily fitted that it soon broke off. These reasons explain why I later switched to using a higher quality plug-in Panasonic microphone that was designed to work with the camcorder and was even powered directly from the camcorder - so that I never had to remember to switch it on / off or change the battery.
At 5:44 it's in German and it basically says "Train to (destination) please stand clear !"
she said "nach Schlesisches Tor, zurückbleiben" which means "toward Schlesisches Tor, stand back(or stand clear)" she does say it kind of fast though
@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.
that's the U2 train at the beginning of the film
this brings memories for Daktari.
Why would there be high- and low-profile Underground trains in Berlin though? In London I can understand, since the tunnels were built using two different construction methods and have different dimensions (older subsurface tunnels taller than newer deep-level tunnels, hence deep-level tunnels can't accommodate the high-profile subsurface trains e.g. S Stock and will only allow low-profile deep-level trains e.g. 1973 or 1996 Stock to run through). But do similar infrastructure constraints exist in Berlin?
As I understand it, the smaller trains were built first but it was decided that they were too small so future lines were built for larger trains.
So do any infrastructure constraints like those in London affect the Berlin Underground though? The London Underground's infrastructure constraints arose from the limited technology available for building the Metropolitan and District Lines in the 1860s. Back then the only viable method to build tunnels was to dig deep, wide trenches at surface level and then building a roof over it, with cuttings at station ceilings to allow exhaust gases from steam trains (only available rolling stock then; in fact the first Underground trains in London were ex-mainline) to escape. When the TBM method was use to build the Northern Line in the 1890s, the Central, Bakerloo and Piccadilly Lines in the 1900s and the Victoria and Jubilee Lines from the 1960s to the 90s, the tunnels were further below ground, narrower and fully enclosed, hence the trains used needed a lower profile and needed to be electric. But for Berlin, were the planners forced to dig narrow tunnels for lines 1 to 4 (low-profile) before technology advanced to the point that they could dig wider tunnels for lines 5 to 9 (high-profile)? After all they don't distinguish between sub-surface and deep-level; only between high and low profile
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?
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
I think they are, yes.
Simon
@MaestroFire
A good part of it comes from rent controls, along with other gov't interventions. When there is no price flexibility, the consequence is deterioration of the living conditions in this type of housing. To fix up these places, prices would necessarily need to go up in order to pay for it. It has turned out to hurt more than it helps. Unintended consequences of good intentions...
@alanheath No not in that way; First built flats outside the center, send the people there and than rebuilt.
why?
why not?
maybe this is banned in the US, but its not in other cities!
Simon
So, did the closed stations ever reopen after West Germany took over?
some opened within weeks of the fall of the wall, the rest opened over time. Nowadays Berlin is very much a unified city, except perhaps in thought patterns of older people who lived there when the place was divided and for whom the 'other' part of the was foreign.
no/ very little work was done on the tracks during this time and trains from the west often rode very slowly or sometimes even stoped at stations in the east in protest against this. Some stations even had the platforms completely walled off to prevent east berliners jumping on the passing trains.
@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
you are welcome.
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!)