Friedrichstrasse

Looking across Unter den Linden at Friedrichstraße showing the extensive postwar damage and me at the site in 2020. Three blocks east of the parallel Wilhelmstraße, Friedrichstraße was badly damaged during the war and only partly rebuilt during the division of Berlin. During the Cold War and its division, Friedrichstraße underground station, despite being located in East Berlin, was utilised by two intersecting West Berlin S-Bahn lines and the West Berlin subway line U6. The station served as a transfer point for these lines, and trains stopped there, although all other stations on these lines in East Berlin were sealed-off ghost stations (Geisterbahnhof), where trains passed through under guard without stopping. At Friedrichstraße station, West Berlin passengers could transfer from one platform to another but could not leave the station without the appropriate papers. The section of the station open to West Berlin lines was heavily guarded and was sealed off from the smaller part of it serving as a terminus of the East Berlin S-Bahn and as a station for long-distance trains. The section in West Berlin was partly rebuilt as a residential street; in the late 1960s, the remains of the former Belle-Alliance-Platz at the end of the Friedrichstraße, renamed Mehringplatz, were completely demolished and replaced with a concrete housing and office development designed by Hans Scharoun. Despite its central location, this area remains relatively poor.

After the war and during my 2013 Bavarian International School trip on the corner of Friedrichstraße and Reinhardtstraße looking towards Unter den Linden. Friedrichstraße was rebuilt in the 1990s, and at the time it was the city's largest construction project; work continues today north of Friedrichstraße station. A number of well-known architects contributed to the plans, including Jean Nouvel, who designed the Galeries Lafayette department store, Raimund Abraham who contributed the overall design which helped make the street once again became a popular shopping destination, and Philip Johnson, who created the American Business Centre at Checkpoint Charlie. The redevelopment has received mixed reviews.

Bahnhof Friedrichstraße from Berlin in Bildern, published in 1938, and during my 2020 Bavarian International School history trip.

At the end of January, between 40,ooo and 5o,ooo refugees were arriving in Berlin each day, mainly by train. The capital of the Reich did not welcome its victims. `The Friedrichstrasse Bahnhof has become the transit point of Germany's fate,' an eyewitness wrote. `Each new train that comes in unloads a mass of amorphous suffering on to the platform.' In their misery, they may not have noticed the sign there which proclaimed, `Dogs and Jews are not allowed to use the escalator!' Soon energetic measures were taken by the German Red Cross to push refugees on from the Anhalter Bahnhof as quickly as possible, or to force trains to go round Berlin. The authorities were afraid of `infectious diseases such as typhus' and an epidemic in the capital. Other illnesses that they feared the refugees would spread were dysentery, paratyphus, diphtheria and scarlet fever. 

Beevor (48-49) The Fall of Berlin 1945

During our 2017 school trip and the same scene immediately after the war; only the two round roofs of the station offer a direct point of comparison. Kershaw writes how Friedrichstraße station had housed, according to Ursula von Kardorff, a young journalist, an ‘underworld’ almost exclusively inhabited by foreigners, including ‘Poles with glances of hatred’, and a ‘mix of peoples such as was probably never to be seen in a German city’. Any outsider was looked at with suspicion, she wrote. The foreign workers were reputedly ‘excellently organised’, with their own agents, weapons and radio equipment. ‘There are 12 million foreign workers in Germany,’ she said in a telling exaggeration perhaps reflecting her own inner concern, ‘an army in itself. Some are calling it the Trojan Horse of the current war.’

My 2024 cohort in front of Friedrichstraße station, one of Berlin's most significant transport hubs, which played a pivotal role during the Nazi regime and later under the DDR. Its strategic location in the heart of Berlin rendered it crucial for both regimes, not only as a transportation link but also as a tool of political control and surveillance. Built in 1882, Friedrichstraße served as a major intersection for rail lines connecting East and West Berlin, making it a natural focal point for transport under both the Nazi and DDR governments. Under the Nazis, the station became an instrument of oppression, while during the DDR regime, it symbolised division and state surveillance. The station's importance to both regimes lies in how it became entangled in the broader historical currents of totalitarianism, repression, and control. During the Nazi period, Friedrichstraße station was integral to the regime's efforts to organise mass deportations of Jews and other groups considered undesirable by the state. As one of Berlin's busiest stations, Friedrichstraße became a transit point for Jews being transported to concentration camps, such as Auschwitz and Theresienstadt, beginning in the early 1940s. It played a vital logistical role in the Nazis’ broader objective of the "Final Solution." Eichmann, who organised these transports, ensured that the station was included in the network of railway lines used for the deportations. The operation was conducted in a way that minimised disruption to the everyday use of the station, a chilling testament to the regime's ability to conceal the horrors of genocide amidst the ordinary flow of daily life in Berlin. Mass deportations continued even as Allied bombing raids began targeting Berlin, underscoring the regime's prioritisation of the Holocaust above almost all other considerations. The Nazi government also utilised the station's proximity to the city centre for broader purposes of controlling civilian movement and exerting surveillance. The station was one of the key locations for Gestapo activity, where suspected dissidents and enemies of the state were often detained or followed as they travelled through the station. The presence of plainclothes Gestapo officers, combined with the regime's strict requirements for identity papers and travel permits, meant that Friedrichstraße was a point of state-enforced discipline and control. The station's strategic importance was compounded by its proximity to key government buildings, such as the Reich Chancellery and various ministries, further increasing its relevance to the regime's operations. Following the fall of the Nazi regime and the division of Berlin into East and West sectors, Friedrichstraße station became one of the most heavily guarded and politically charged locations in the city. By 1961, with the construction of the Berlin Wall, the station became a transit point for passengers moving between East and West Berlin, though its role was largely restricted to those with special permission to cross the border. The DDR regime used Friedrichstraße as a key checkpoint for managing the flow of visitors from the West, establishing the station as one of the few crossing points between the two sides of the divided city. The station's nickname, "Tränenpalast" (Palace of Tears), came from the emotional scenes that unfolded as East German citizens said goodbye to loved ones leaving for West Berlin, often not knowing if they would ever see them again. 

Outside Friedrichstraße station at the intersection of Georgenstraße and Friedrichstraße is this bronze statue representing the contrasting fate of children during the Nazi era by architect and sculptor Frank Meisler, who travelled himself with a 1939 children's transport from Berlin-Friedrichstraße to England. Five figures in grey look to one side, symbolising the suffering of those deported to concentration camps to meet an early demise. Two lighter bronze figures gaze in the other direction representing those Jewish children whose lives were saved by the Kindertransport to England.  More than two million children lost their lives from 1933 to 1945 through the tyranny of the Nazis. London stockbroker Nicholas Winton, moved by the fate of Jewish refugees, worked with his fellow Britons to bring the first rescued children to the United Kingdom. These Kindertransporte were an attempt to protect the youngest victims of the Nazi dictatorship. 

These rescue missions allowed some ten thousand Jewish children from Germany, Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia to escape deportation and find refuge in children's homes or with English families in London. It was hoped during Brexit negotiations that the Germans remember many such examples of British aid and support to Jews, now recognised as German. The first train left Berlin's Friedrichstraße station with 196 children on board on November 30, 1938.

Beside the statue, seen behind my students, is the entrance to the Friedrichstraße underground station, shown here during the Battle of Berlin, 1945 and from the same view today. Most of the following photographs from the Battle of Berlin date from May 4, 1945 attributed to Soviet propaganda photographer Mark Redkin after five doomed breakout attempts by surrounded German forces and civilians near the Freidrichstrasse U-bahn station. 

Standing at the entrance to the next U-bahn station further down Freidrichstrasse to the north on Johannistrasse, Oranienburger Tor. At the end of this street is the hostel where my 2020 school trip stayed- Heart of Gold.  

 In April 1945, approximately two and a half million people were living in Berlin; in December 1944, there were almost 4.4 millions. The former inhabitants were at the front, in captivity, on the run or dead.  After weeks of haphazard back and forth, Berlin had made makeshift preparations for battle- anti-tank ditches have been dug, access roads barricaded, and fighting positions set up. Refugees were streaming into the city. Food had become scarce, and the supply of water and electricity partially interrupted. Now during these last days of the war, thousands of Berliners had sought shelter in such underground stations from the ongoing fighting and air raids including numerous forced labourers. Trains had not been running here for a long time and some of them served as makeshift hospitals whilst people crowded the platforms of the stations. It was here where, from the Friedrichstraße S-Bahn station, one group was driven into the underground tunnel in the direction of Stettiner Bahnhof (now Nordbahnhof) from where the ϟϟ chased them onto the street. One  woman reported how "the artillery fire was roaring at full strength. I staggered forward as if stunned. Hundreds of us were blown to pieces... It didn't want to be night, the burning sky over Berlin was so blood-red." This area was specifically referred to in Elena Moiseyevna Rzhevskaya's Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter:

 Goebbels’s speech that day contained a summons to all soldiers, to the wounded, to the entire male population of Berlin immediately to join the ranks of the defenders of the city. He declared that anyone who failed to respond to this appeal and did not immediately go to the assembly point, at the Berlin Commissioner’s Office on Johannistrasse near the Friedrichstrasse station, was a despicable swine. Here, next to the station, and in other busy places, Nazis carried out executions to intimidate the public. I myself was confronted by the sight of a hanged German soldier in Berlin when we had just entered the city.

My 2024 senior cohort from the steps of the Friedrichstadt-Palast towards Weidendammer bridge showing dazed civilians making their way through the carnage. Civilians caught in the crossfire further complicated the situation, with reports indicating that over 100,000 inhabitants remained in the city during the final assault. Eyewitness testimonies recount the harrowing conditions faced by these individuals, many of whom were trapped in basements as the fighting raged overhead. The humanitarian crisis escalated as essential supplies became scarce, with civilians scavenging for food amidst the ruins. The presence of Soviet troops also raised fears of reprisals against the German population, contributing to a palpable atmosphere of terror. As the battle continued, the toll on the civilian population became increasingly evident, with estimates suggesting that thousands of non-combatants were killed or injured during the fighting. The Battle of Berlin in 1945 marked the final major offensive in Europe during the Second World War, symbolising the collapse of Nazi Germany and the definitive victory of the Allied forces. Among the most significant areas of conflict during this battle was Friedrichstrasse, a vital artery in the heart of the city, which played a crucial role in the German defence efforts against the advancing Soviet troops.

Barry Crook is responsible for an outstanding webpage in which he analyses photographs that include those shown here from the Battle of Berlin that took place along Friedrichstrasse and adjoining Französische-Strasse on May 4, 1945. With them he provides maps and drawings to make sense of the confusing extent of wreckage found along this road. In this photo on the right, the dead ϟϟ-man, either an Ustuf. or Hstuf., appears to be a soldier of the ϟϟ-Fallschirmjäger-Bataillon 500/600 given the Fallschirmschützenhelm and the FG42 around him which poses a problem given there is no evidence that the battalion ever fought in Berlin 1945. Although there continues to be debate about the identification of the vehicle in the background- one identified it as a Sd.Kfz.250 mortar half-track “339” from the 11. ϟϟ Panzer-Grendier Division “Nordland”, it is usually identified online as the half-track of ϟϟ-Hauptsturmführer Hans-Gösta Pehrsson, the company commander of 3./ϟϟ-Pz-Aufkl-Abt 11. A number of photos taken show the Soviet soldier posing on either side of the corpse suggesting the scene was staged in some way. 

During the Battle of Berlin, the Weidendammer Bridge was one of the few Spree crossings that had not been destroyed. The defenders of the city faced an hopeless battle, consisting almost 45,000 soldiers, including remnants of ϟϟ units from a variety of European countries, and almost as many members of the Volkssturm, consisting of about 42,000 men and 3,500 Hitler Youth.  

On the left, the body of a dead German soldier next to a Horch 108 on Friedrichstraße shown on the right. This vehicle, like the Sd Kfz 251 armoured personnel carrier, towing a light infantry howitzer, also belonged to the 11th ϟϟ Nordland Division. In the distance to the right the postal vehicle visible from another photo shown below is seen.  The very young soldier wearing the Luftwaffe camouflage jacket in the photo at right can also be seen in the main photo at far left, beside the half track’s front wheel. His body has been turned over by the Russians and it lays on a MG42 with its breech opened, dislodging a length of spent ammo belt. Beside lays a Volkskopie of Hitler’s Mein Kampf, probably placed there by Soviet TASS press agency photographer Mark Redkin. The other corpses were most likely Swedish ϟϟ volunteers. A chess/checkers board can be discerned discarded amidst the rubble and corpses.

As a central boulevard, Friedrichstrasse was not only strategically important due to its location but also due to its proximity to other key sites, such as the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, and the Führerbunker. The ferocious fighting in and around this area encapsulated the desperation of the German forces as they tried to delay the inevitable fall of Berlin, and the relentless Soviet advance, driven by a desire for revenge and a final victory, ensured that Friedrichstrasse became a focal point of some of the bloodiest urban combat of the entire war and so the street's strategic significance can't be understated. It ran north-south through the centre of Berlin and connected several important military and political sites. By April 1945, as the Red Army encircled the city, Friedrichstrasse became a vital line of defence for the remaining German forces, many of whom were made up of hastily organised Volkssturm, Hitler Youth, and remnants of regular army divisions. The Germans, despite being vastly outnumbered and outgunned, used the street's infrastructure to their advantage, setting up barricades, fortifying buildings, and utilising the U-Bahn and S-Bahn tunnels as defensive positions. The urban environment provided numerous tactical opportunities for both sides, but it also led to brutal house-to-house fighting, where the Soviets had to clear each building in a slow and methodical advance. Zhukov, leading the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front, made Friedrichstrasse a key objective in his plan to break through the central defensive ring around the government district.
Another photograph taken with my 2020 cohort on the corner of Friedrichstrasse and Johanisstrasse. The van above right is a bright red Bergmann Deutsche Reichspost vehicle, which had initially been suggested to be a Mercedes-Benz L1500 which had been the vehicle of choice for the German infantry troops, eventually produced in nearly five thousand units between 1941 and 1943. However thanks to Javier de Luelmo it has been identified. This photo shows the scene out of view beside the postal van above revealing the bodies of ten combatants. A further two more can be just made out on the rubble in front of the van in the upper photo. A lack of dust and debris on the bodies by the van in addition to the gravity-defying posture shown in the rigor mortis in several of them suggests they were not killed here but rather had been gathered to be taken away by the postal van for burial despite the van's flat front tyre. In other words, the van is likely a later arrival, whilst the number of killed near this intersection remains difficult to estimate. Tibbitts has created a terrific model based on one of the photographs taken of this breakout. He has produced a Youtube video showcasing this work.

 The Soviet strategy in the Battle of Berlin was shaped by Stalin’s determination to capture the city before the Western Allies, but also by the psychological and emotional impact of the brutal Eastern Front campaigns. Soviet troops, having endured the horrors of the German invasion of the USSR and atrocities committed by the Wehrmacht and ϟϟ, fought with a ferocity born from a desire for revenge.

Here on the right, looking the other way down Friedrichstrasse. In the end, the German armed forces' losses in killed and wounded are not reliably known. Of the approximately two million Berliners, about 125,000 were killed with the city heavily damaged by bombing even before the Soviet troops arrived. Bombing continued during the fighting near Berlin - the last American bombing on April 20, 1945 on Hitler's birthday led to problems with food supplies. The destruction was further intensified by the actions of Soviet artillery, which began an artillery barrage on April 20 before storming the city. On April 20, 1945, the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front, commanded by Marshal Georgy Zhukov, began a series of coordinated assaults on the city, employing overwhelming artillery fire to soften German resistance. The street fighting along Friedrichstrasse was particularly brutal because it was seen as the last line of defence before reaching key political symbols of the Third Reich. The intensity of the fighting along Friedrichstrasse is exemplified by the sheer scale of destruction. Soviet artillery relentlessly bombarded the area, reducing entire blocks of buildings to rubble. This had a twofold effect: it made the German defensive positions more precarious, as the destruction of buildings eliminated cover, but it also made Soviet advances slower, as navigating through the ruins was hazardous. The intensity of the fighting along Friedrichstrasse in April and early May 1945 was marked by a series of brutal confrontations that reflected the overall atmosphere of the Battle of Berlin. As the Red Army advanced towards the city centre, Friedrichstrasse became a focal point due to its strategic significance and the entrenched German defenders. The Soviets faced stiff resistance from units composed of both regular Wehrmacht soldiers and hastily assembled Volkssturm forces, many of whom were inadequately trained and armed. The fighting in this sector was characterised by urban warfare tactics, which included the use of snipers, machine gun nests, and fortified buildings.

German forces made extensive use of the urban terrain to fortify their positions. Buildings along Friedrichstrasse were repurposed as defensive strongholds, where German soldiers dug in and utilised the rubble to create barriers and vantage points. On April 27, 1945, a pivotal encounter unfolded at the junction of Friedrichstrasse and Unter den Linden, where Soviet forces attempted to gain control of this vital intersection. Soviet commanders deployed infantry units supported by tanks, aiming to breach the German defensive lines. The German defenders, driven by a sense of urgency and determination, managed to hold their ground for several days despite being outnumbered and outgunned. Reports indicate that defenders employed Panzerfaust anti-tank weapons to inflict significant damage on Soviet tanks, demonstrating the desperation of the German forces to hold on to key positions. By April 30, reports indicated that German forces, including the 9th Army under General Theodor Busse, were struggling to maintain a coherent defensive line. Friedrichstrasse, a vital thoroughfare linking key strategic locations, became a focal point of combat, with Soviet infantry advancing alongside T-34 tanks to penetrate German defences. The Germans fortified their positions using improvised barricades and strongpoints in buildings, particularly at the Friedrichstrasse Station, which was crucial for maintaining supply lines. 

On May 1, Soviet artillery units reportedly fired over 1,500 shells in a single day, targeting German strongholds along Friedrichstrasse. The intensity of the bombardment resulted in significant casualties among the defenders, with estimates indicating that around 10,000 German soldiers were killed in the final days of the battle. The use of close air support by the Soviet Air Force further exacerbated the German predicament, with attacks on defensive positions leading to the destruction of key artillery emplacements. Amidst this chaos, the psychological state of German troops deteriorated rapidly. Many soldiers were demoralised by the knowledge that Hitler had died by suicide in his bunker on April 30, 1945. The collapse of command was evident; communications between units became sporadic, undermining any cohesive strategy. 

  One of the bodies lying around the vehicle is most likely ϟϟ-Hauptsturmführer Pehrsson's dead driver, his fellow Swede ϟϟ-Unterscharführer Ragnar Johansson. The Swedish ϟϟ reconnaissance platoons escape attempt took place the night of May 1. They came under heavy Soviet fire near the Friedrichstraße-Johannisstraße intersection where the driver ϟϟ-Unterscharführer Johansson, who had  ought in the Swedish Volunteer Corps in Finland before he joining the Waffen-ϟϟ, fell outside the halftrack. Pehrsson himself, whilst wounded, managed to escape after having had time to get rid of his uniform jacket and changed into a Wehrmacht one before being taken prisoner. He was eventually sent to a prison camp from which he managed to escape, hiding himself in a flat back in Berlin. He subsequently met another Swedish ϟϟ-man and together made it to the British occupation zone. On June 2, 1945 they embarked on a remarkable trek back to Sweden where ϟϟ volunteers who had returned from the war were not persecuted. Pehrsson had the chance to return to civilian life and found a good job as a salesman and engineer. Pehrsson would die on March 16, 1974 aged 63 in Stockholm.
The final stages of the battle exemplified the brutality of urban warfare, as both sides faced staggering losses. The Germans were forced to retreat from their positions along Friedrichstrasse, which fell to the Soviets by the early hours of May 3, 1945. In the aftermath of the battle, Friedrichstrasse lay in ruins, symbolising the complete devastation of Berlin. The strategic and symbolic significance of the thoroughfare was underscored by the immense human cost, with estimates suggesting that upwards of 25,000 soldiers and civilians perished in the fighting across the city. The devastation extended beyond mere physical destruction; it marked the end of an era for Berlin, with the street now emblematic of the broader collapse of Nazi Germany.

The former Reichsbahnbunker Friedrichstraße on the corner of Albrechtstraße and Reinhardtrasse on February 26 1987, nearly three years before the wall fell and today with my 2021 cohort. The Nazis had it built in 1943 by forced labourers for up to 2, 500 passengers on the Reichsbahn. Planning work began in 1941 under the leadership of Speer as part of the "Führer Emergency Programme" to build air raid shelters for the civilian population but the building itself was designed in 1942 by Karl Bonatz, Paul Bonatz's younger brother. The symmetrical and square building is eighteen metres high and has a floor area of 1,000 m². The reinforced concrete walls, up to three metres thick, encompass around 120 rooms on five floors that were designed to accommodate 2,000 people intended primarily to provide protection for rail passengers at the nearby Friedrichstrasse station, as well as for the civilians living in the area. Visitors to the Deutsches Theater could also take shelter here in the event of a bomb threat. In early May 1945, the Soviet Red Army occupied the bunker. The neighbouring house and probably also the bunker used the Soviet secret service NKVD as a remand prison until December 1949. Both buildings were taken over by the East German Ministry for State Security in 1950. A further use of the bunker as a prison has not been proven. 

Sneaking inside to see what remains. In 1949 the building was used as a textile warehouse but by 1957, because of the steady internal temperature, it was converted into a warehouse for imported tropical fruit from Cuba, managed by the state-owned company "Fruit Vegetables Potatoes" known locally as the banana bunker. In April 1992 the artist and tenant Werner Vollert turned the bunker into a techno club. It also hosted the Red Cross Club, later renamed the Ex-Kreuz Club, in which fetish and S&M events took place. In 1996, due to another raid  by the authorities after which building requirements that could not be implemented were imposed on the operators, the club closed. In 2001, Nippon Development Corporation GmbH bought the building from the federal government before being acquired by the Wuppertal collector Christian Boros as an exhibition space for contemporary art. As can be seen in the recent photo, he has built a penthouse on the roof of the building.

My 2024 cohort on the Weidendammer bridge showing the Kaiser Friedrich Museum (now Bodemuseum) with flames emitting from the Admiralspalast. During the war, the bridge was spared from bombing, allowing it to continue to be used without serious damage. In 1974 and 1985, the East Berlin ​​administration had extensive repair work carried out, for which larger elements were temporarily removed and reworked in workshops. After the fall of the Wall and the formation of a new Berlin city administration, extensive renovation work was carried out between 1992 and 1994, during which, among other things, inadequate sealing, corrosion and road surface damage were eliminated. The bridge was closed for this purpose and the Ebert Bridge was rebuilt as a temporary solution to provide a short bypass.  

My students in front of the Bodemuseum. 

During the war, the building suffered comparatively the least damage on Museum Island, but it wasn't until 1951 that it received a temporary roof. In the last years of the war whilst bombs were being dropped on Berlin, museum employees and many helpers stored large parts of the collections within the Friedrichshain anti-aircraft bunker, which had been classified as a security depot. But in May 1945, when the war was officially over, a fire broke out in the bunker rooms that lasted for three days resulting in many exhibits being destroyed, and others were mutilated beyond recognition. Any items that still looked like valuable exhibits were brought directly to Russia by the Soviet occupying forces as reparations and stored in the Hermitage in Leningrad and the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. In 1958, many of the stolen art objects were returned to the DDR in a symbolic act of friendship and stored in museum depots. There they remained unnoticed for many years. The postwar Berlin city administration had all references to previous rulers removed; the collection building was now unofficially called the Museum am Kupfergraben. On March 1, 1956, Johannes R. Becher, the then-Minister of Culture of the DDR, ceremoniously gave the Kaiser Friedrich Museum the name Bode Museum in memory of its builder. The Egyptian Museum with its papyrus collection, the Museum of Prehistory and Early History, a painting gallery, a sculpture collection and the coin cabinet were temporarily housed here. The first parts of the collections could be shown again from 1954. The gradual repair of the building, including the restoration of the interior, dragged on whilst the museum continued to operate until the year of the city's 750th anniversary in 1987.

The museum appears as a playable level in the 2012 third-person tactical shooter-stealth video game Sniper Elite V2 shown right. It takes place during the Battle of Berlin in April–May 1945, but with an altered narrative and its plot follows an officer of the American Office of Strategic Services who must capture or eliminate the scientists involved in the GermanV-2 rocket programme whilst the Red Army invades. The protagonist, Second Lieutenant Karl Fairburne, begins making his way towards the Opernplatz, today's Bebelplatz. To distract the Germans, he locates a cache of explosives and destroys a bridge, provoking the Soviets into attacking a German garrison at an abandoned museum which for all intents and purposes looks like the Bodemuseum. As expected, German reinforcements arrive to defend the position, allowing Fairburn to slip by during the ensuing chaos. He then infiltrates a military camp at the Opernplatz, saves Schwaiger from execution in the nick of time, and provides covering fire as the scientist flees to safety, before holding off a detachment of Soviet troops sent to capture him.

My 2016 cohort in front of the eagle in the middle of Weidendammer bridge, shown then and now. The imperial eagles on both sides in the middle of the bridge have a coat of arms cartouche on its belly, below which was the inscription BUILT 1895–1896. During the basic renovation of the entire bridge after 1990, all parts were reconstructed according to historical models with the work carried out by Fittkau Metallbau und Kunstschmiede. The crown has been returned just as the imperial palace is being rebuilt. The bridge has played a role in literature several times, as in rich Kästner's Pünktchen and Anton in which “Pünktchen”, the little girl from a wealthy family, begs in torn clothes on the Weidendammer Bridge (in the middle of the entertainment district of the 1920s) and sells matches; across the street, her friend Anton sells shoelaces.

 On the night of May 1, 1945 a Tiger tank from the 11th ϟϟ Panzergrenadier Division Nordland spearheaded an attempt to storm the bridge to allow hundreds of German soldiers and civilians to escape across it. According to Beevor (382),

[w]ord had spread of the breakout and many hundreds of ϟϟ, Wehrmacht soldiers and civilians had assembled. It was a gathering which Soviet troops could not fail to miss. The first mass rush, led by the Tiger tank, took place just after midnight, but although the armoured monster managed to smash through the barrier on the north side of the bridge, they soon ran into very heavy fire in the Ziegelstrasse beyond. An anti-tank round struck the Tiger and many of the civilians and soldiers in its wake were mown down.

The next day Soviet forces launched a concentrated assault on Friedrichstrasse, utilising infantry and armour in a combined arms approach that overwhelmed the defenders. This assault culminated in the capture of the Friedrichstrasse Station, which had been a stronghold for German defenders.

 

It was over this bridge that Hitler's private secretary and successor as Nazi Party Minister

Bormann carried the last copy of Hitler's testament, and he evidently hoped to use it to justify his claim to a position in Donitz's government when he reached Schleswig-Holstein. Another attack over the bridge was made soon afterwards, using a self-propelled 3omm quadruple flak gun and a half-track. This too was largely a failure. A third attempt was made at around 1 a.m., and a fourth an hour later. Bormann, Stumpfegger, Schwaegermann and Axmann kept together for a time. They followed the railway line to the Lehrterstrasse Bahnhof. There they split up. Bormann and Stumpfegger turned north-eastwards towards the Stettiner Bahnhof. Axmann went the other way, but ran into a Soviet patrol. He turned back and followed Bormann's route. Not long afterwards he came across two bodies. He identified them as Bormann and Stumpfegger, but he did not have time to discover how they had died. Martin Bormann, although not of his own volition, was the only major Nazi Party leader to have faced the bullets of the Bolshevik enemy. All the others - Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler and Goring - took their own lives. 

Beevor (382-383) Berlin

The Admiralspalast (Haus der Presse during Soviet rule) further down at Friedrichstraße 101 in 1949 on the occasion of Stalin's 70th birthday and today behind me in 2021 and with my Bavarian International School class of 2018 showing the profound redevelopment post-unification. It was opened in 1910 and remains one of the few preserved variety venues of the pre-war era in the city. It had originally included a skating rink, a public bath, bowling alleys, a café and a cinema open day and night. It was converted into a full theatre with 2,200 seats in 1930, and a year later it was rebuilt in the expressionist style. In 1933 the Rotter Group, which also owned many other theatres, went bankruptand was taken over by conductor Walter Hochtritt. In the mid-1930s the focus of the repertoire shifted to operettas. In 1939 the Admiralspalast merged with theMetropol-Theateron Behrenstrasse and by December 20 that year, on the orders of Goebbels and according to plans by Paul Baumgarten, the theatre was completely redesigned into a "festive and beautiful place of relaxation" in a simple, classicist form, which has been preserved to this day. Johannes Heesters played Danilo in The Merry Widow here. After the closure of the in-house saltwater bath in 1940, a "Führer's box" was built in the middle of the first tier a year later. On September 1, 1944, the Admiralspalast was ordered closed along with the other Berlin theatres due to the declaration of "total war".

Hitler watched The Merry Widow here. As the building suffered little damage from the wartime bombing, it was home to the Berlin State Opera until the reconstruction of the opera house in 1955. Here it served the Soviet occupying forces and the German authorities after 1945 as a venue for political and cultural purposes. Among other things, a Max Pechstein exhibition took place in 1946. On the initiative of the Soviet military commander Bersarin, the German State Opera moved into the Admiralspalast, whose building was no longer usable due to Allied bombings. Two weeks after the opening concert on August 23, 1945, Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice were performed here. The State Opera played here for ten years and put on a total of 55 productions. On April 21-22, 1946 the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the Communist Party of Germany in the Soviet occupation zone held a convention at the Admiralspalast where they merged to become the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The East German Union of Journalists had its offices inside the Admiralspalast. 

Carl Zuckmayer admired the Russian contribution to the arts at the time. The most prestigious theatre in the Russian Sector was the allied zones Admiralspalast, which had survived the bombing unscathed and now played host to the State Opera. Zuckmayer found the singers less impressive than their counterparts in New York, but on the other hand he was very struck by the talents of the young directors and artists who designed the performances. 

MacDonogh (217-218) After the Reich

More recently, Hitler returned to the Admiralspalast which until recently still had its Führer's Box specifically built for him, when it staged Germany's first production of Mel Brooks's musical comedy "The Producers" shown above.

Friedrichstadt Palast around the turn of the century when it served as a military barracks dating from the 1760s and today. During the Nazi era the theatre was renamed the Theater des Volkes. The dome hanging pins were cut off as they were seen as degenerate art. and late-bourgeois operettas were performed. The theatre was at this time also under the name Palace of 5000 and under the private management Spadonis Marion and Nicola Lupo.The building suffered most in March 1945 due to repeated air attacks. Damage caused the plays to be removed from March until August 1945. Now, led the artists Spadoni and Lupo the house as a palace of the 3000/Theater of 3000 or Palace at the Friedrichstrasse station and Palace Variety.In 1949 the owners abandoned the theatre and the city of Berlin took over the facility, the original name Friedrichstadtpalast got back. The first director was following the expropriation of Gottfried Hermann, he was succeeded in 1961, Wolfgang E. Struck.

When taking school groups I'd previously used Baxpax hostel around the corner at Ziegelstrasse 28. Named after Felix Yurievich Ziegel, Soviet researcher, Doctor of Science and docent of Cosmology at the Moscow Aviation Institute and generally regarded as a founder of Russian ufology, like many streets reflecting the military connections around the area- Artillerienstrasse, Dragonerstrasse, Grenadierstrasse- its original name had been purged and replaced by worthy left-wingers by the East German regime.

Checkpoint Charlie, located on Friedrichstrasse, was established on 22 August 1961, just days after the Berlin Wall was constructed on 13 August 1961. The Wall itself was a response by the East German government, under the leadership of Walter Ulbricht, to the mass exodus of East Germans fleeing to the West, which had reached around 2.5 million by 1961. This constant loss of skilled labour and intellectuals was devastating to the East German economy. The Wall and the associated border control points, such as Checkpoint Charlie, were designed to curtail this migration and solidify the division of Berlin, which had become a focal point of Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Checkpoint Charlie, named by the Western Allies using the NATO phonetic alphabet ("Charlie" for "C"), was one of several crossing points between East and West Berlin;  "Checkpoint Alpha" was the name of the checkpoint at the Helmstedt-Marienborn border crossing on today's Bundesautobahn 2, which was in the British zone, but because of the shortest autobahn connection to West Berlin used almost exclusively by the three Western Allies and also jointly was managed. Checkpoint Bravo was the American side of the Dreilinden checkpoint, which was moved to Drewitz in 1969 and later relocated to today's A 115. The nomenclature checkpoint for control point results from the fact that the western side did not recognise the legitimacy under international law as a state border, in contrast to the eastern term Grenzüberführungsstelle (GÜSt). In this regard, after the constitutional recognition of the DDR from 1972, there was a change for the inner-German border, but not for the Berlin sector border. But Checkpoint Charlie held special importance as it was the only crossing point for Allied forces and foreigners. The checkpoint’s strategic location in the centre of Berlin, on Friedrichstrasse near the junction of Zimmerstrasse, was significant due to its proximity to the Berlin Wall and the boundary between the American and Soviet sectors. The Wall itself was fortified with barbed wire, armed guards, and a heavily patrolled “death strip” between two parallel walls, making escape from the East exceptionally difficult. Checkpoint Charlie became the only legal crossing point for foreign diplomats, military personnel, and visitors between East and West Berlin, which placed it at the heart of many Cold War confrontations and incidents.

Standing at the spot in 2020. One of the most critical incidents occurred on October 27, 1961, when Soviet and American tanks faced off at Checkpoint Charlie in a dangerous military standoff. This confrontation was sparked by an attempt by the East German authorities to assert control over access to the Eastern sector by demanding that American diplomats show identification before crossing. The US commander in Berlin, General Lucius D. Clay, refused to comply with this demand, asserting that only the Soviets had the right to control Allied access under the agreements reached after World War II. Clay’s defiance led to a tense standoff, as both sides sent tanks to the checkpoint. Soviet T-55 tanks lined up on the Eastern side, while American M48 Patton tanks took up positions on the Western side, just metres apart. For 16 hours, the world watched as the superpowers stood on the brink of direct conflict. It was only through backchannel negotiations between Kennedy and Khrushchev that the crisis was defused, with both sides eventually agreeing to withdraw their tanks simultaneously.
The incident at Checkpoint Charlie in 1961 was a critical moment in Cold War history, illustrating the fragile nature of peace in Berlin and the high stakes of the East-West confrontation. It also highlighted the role of Checkpoint Charlie as a flashpoint for Cold War tensions, a place where the two superpowers could come into direct confrontation. Ulbricht and his East German government sought to assert their authority by controlling access to the Western sector of Berlin, but the US response reaffirmed that the division of Berlin was not yet fully accepted by the West. The resolution of the standoff demonstrated the importance of diplomacy in averting war, but it also underscored the constant risk of escalation in Berlin, where even a minor incident could spiral into a global crisis.
The site as it appeared in 1961 and during my 2016 Bavarian International School class trip.Checkpoint Charlie was not only a site of military and diplomatic confrontations but also a symbol of the human cost of the division of Germany. The Berlin Wall, which eventually stretched for 155 kilometres around West Berlin, was responsible for the deaths of at least 140 people between 1961 and 1989, many of whom attempted to escape through or near Checkpoint Charlie. One of the most infamous escape attempts was that of Peter Fechter, an 18-year-old bricklayer from East Berlin. On 17 August 1962, Fechter attempted to scale the Berlin Wall near Checkpoint Charlie, but he was shot by East German border guards and left to die in full view of Western onlookers. His body lay unattended in the no-man's land for nearly an hour before he succumbed to his injuries. The incident sparked international outrage and further highlighted the brutality of the East German regime’s border policies. Fechter’s death became a powerful symbol of the repression and violence associated with the Berlin Wall, and it solidified Checkpoint Charlie’s place in Cold War history as a site of tragic human loss.
During the 1961 crisis and me today.
In another dramatic event in 1973, Wolfgang Engels, a former East German border guard who had become disillusioned with the regime, stole an armoured personnel carrier and crashed it through the Berlin Wall near Checkpoint Charlie. Although his vehicle became stuck in the fortifications, Engels managed to climb over the wall and escape to West Berlin despite being shot by East German guards. His daring escape highlighted both the desperation of those seeking freedom from the East and the continuing significance of Checkpoint Charlie as a site of defiance against the East German regime.

Drake Winston at the site in 2021. Checkpoint Charlie's significance extended beyond the immediate confrontations of the Cold War. Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, it became a focal point for numerous escape attempts from East to West Berlin, symbolising the desperation and determination of East Germans trapped behind the Iron Curtain. Despite the dangers, including a high risk of being shot by border guards, many East Berliners continued to devise ingenious escape plans, some of which succeeded, while others ended in tragedy. In 1964, two families used a homemade hot-air balloon to cross over the Berlin Wall near Checkpoint Charlie, and in 1979, a tunnel was dug from West to East, allowing more than 20 people to escape under the watchful eyes of the border guards.  The atmosphere at Checkpoint Charlie changed somewhat during the 1970s following the détente policies pursued by both the United States and the Soviet Union. The signing of the Four Power Agreement on Berlin in 1971 provided certain assurances for Western access to West Berlin and sought to stabilise the situation in the city. While the agreement did not resolve the issue of Germany’s division, it did help reduce tensions in the city and facilitated travel between East and West Berlin for certain groups, such as pensioners and family visitors. Nevertheless, Checkpoint Charlie remained a heavily guarded site, with strict controls on who could cross, and the Berlin Wall continued to serve as a potent reminder of the ideological division between communism and democracy. One of the most famous episodes involving Checkpoint Charlie during the later stages of the Cold War was the 1985 defection of Soviet diplomat Vitaly Yurchenko. Yurchenko, a high-ranking officer in the KGB, had initially defected to the United States but later decided to return to the Soviet Union. His crossing back into East Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie caused a stir in the intelligence community and served as a stark reminder of the ongoing espionage activities that defined much of the Cold War era. Yurchenko’s case underscored the fact that Checkpoint Charlie was not only a site of physical confrontation but also a place where the clandestine battles of the Cold War played out in full view of the world.

My students on the corner of Friedrichsrasse and Zimmerstrasse, taken from Checkpoint Charlie. As the 1980s drew to a close, the political situation in East Germany began to change dramatically. Under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union implemented policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring), which encouraged political and economic reforms across the Eastern Bloc. In East Germany, the government of Erich Honecker initially resisted these reforms, but by 1989, mass protests had erupted in cities like Leipzig, Dresden, and East Berlin, demanding greater political freedoms and an end to the repressive regime. The East German government’s inability to quell these protests, combined with growing pressure from within the Soviet Union, culminated in the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989.

An earlier cohort looking at the same block of buildings from the other direction.

Checkpoint Charlie played a crucial role in the events surrounding the fall of the Wall. As East Berliners flocked to the border crossings to take advantage of the newly announced policy allowing travel to the West, Checkpoint Charlie became a focal point for the celebrations that marked the reunification of Berlin. The images of thousands of East and West Germans embracing at the checkpoint, breaking down the barriers that had divided their city for nearly three decades, became some of the most iconic symbols of the end of the Cold War. The dismantling of the Berlin Wall, including Checkpoint Charlie, began shortly after the fall of the Wall, and by 1990, the once heavily guarded border crossing had been reduced to a mere tourist attraction.

In the years following the reunification of Germany, Checkpoint Charlie became a symbol of the Cold War era and the triumph of freedom over oppression. A replica of the original guardhouse and a sign reading "You are leaving the American sector" were erected at the site as a reminder of the checkpoint’s historical significance. The nearby Checkpoint Charlie Museum, established in 1963 by historian Rainer Hildebrandt, continues to educate visitors about the history of the Berlin Wall and the numerous escape attempts made by East Germans during the Cold War. The museum houses artefacts such as escape cars, homemade hot-air balloons, and other tools used in the daring efforts to flee East Germany. It serves as a powerful reminder of the human stories behind the political struggles of the 20th century.

The cultural significance of Checkpoint Charlie was further solidified by its portrayal in various forms of media throughout the Cold War. Films such as "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" (1965) and "Octopussy" (1983) shown here with me and James Bond, depicted Checkpoint Charlie as a site of high-stakes espionage and intrigue, reflecting its role as a key location in the shadowy world of intelligence and counter-intelligence operations. These portrayals helped cement its image as one of the most iconic symbols of the Cold War, familiar to audiences around the globe. In literature, numerous works, including John le Carré’s spy novels, highlighted the tension and danger associated with the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie, adding to the mythos surrounding the site.Looking down Zimmerstrasse towards Checkpoint Charlie with my students. Despite the dismantling of the checkpoint following the reunification of Germany, its legacy endures. Today, Checkpoint Charlie is a major tourist attraction, drawing millions of visitors each year who come to see the remnants of the Berlin Wall and learn about the history of the Cold War. The area around the former checkpoint has been commercialised , with souvenir shops and replicas of border guards posing for photographs. However, for many, the site retains its historical gravitas, serving as a reminder of the sacrifices made by those who sought freedom from the oppressive regimes of the Eastern Bloc.
Rainer Hildebrandt’s efforts in founding the Checkpoint Charlie Museum have ensured that the stories of the men, women, and children who risked everything to escape from East Berlin are not forgotten. The museum continues to expand its exhibits, providing visitors with a comprehensive understanding of the political, social, and human dimensions of the Cold War. Through its educational programmes and exhibitions, it highlights the personal bravery and ingenuity of those who defied the East German regime and sought freedom, whilst also reminding visitors of the broader implications of the division of Berlin and Germany.

The site of the wall on Zimmerstraße near the corner of Wilhelmstraße with the Markthalle III behind me and as it appeared in 1976. The hall closed in 1910 due to unprofitability and was subsequently home to the Berlin Konzerthaus Clou, where Hitler first appeared as a speaker in Berlin on May 1, 1927 from 11.00 to 14.00. The closed assembly took place on the occasion of the May Day celebrations of the Berlin-Brandenburg Gau which, according to the Völkischer Beobachter, was attended by around 5,000 people and was led by Kurt Daluege, SA leader and deputy Gauleiter. Goebbels spoke before Hitler about the latter's ban from speaking in Prussia. This was also the site where Hitler made his first public appearance in Berlin in July that year.  At the end of the 1930s the city of Berlin divided the property and sold the former market hall and the front building on Mauerstraße to the previous tenant Hoffmann & Retschlag. The front building on Zimmerstraße came into the possession of the Nazis' central publishing house, Franz Eher Folger GmbH. The publisher set up its Berlin branch here and in the neighbouring buildings at Zimmerstraße 87–8 where the printing machines for the Berlin edition of the Völkischer Beobachter along with other party propaganda journals such as Das Schwarze Korps and Der Angriff were housed. After the war, the SED party organ Neues Deutschland was printed on them. The concert hall, which had already been closed due to the war, served in 1943 as one of the assembly camps for the last Jews who had been spared deportation until February 27, 1943 and who were still being forced to work in Berlin armaments factories. Towards the end of the war aerial bombs destroyed the facilities of this former market hall that had been built between 1884 and 1886, except for the front building and its western side wing on Zimmerstrasse shown here. After the Berlin Wall was built in 1961 right in front of the building, it stood in the inaccessible border area until 1989. On the right is the dismantling of the concrete slab wall and erection of border wall 75 on Wilhelmstrasse. In 1976 here, between Niederkirchner Strasse and Friedrichstrasse, work began on removing the remains of the old border wall made of concrete slabs and building the new border wall 75 from precast concrete parts. In place of the old wall, a 400 metre long mobile safety fence will be erected temporarily, reducing the distance to the residential buildings to a width of 1.50 to 2 metres. A border soldier guards the area between the fence and the border wall.

Looking further down from Checkpoint Charlie on Friedrichstraße 34 one can clearly see the Nazi eagle topping the Berlin-Brandenburg State Employment Office (the  Landesarbeitsamt).  I was told it's the eagle that famously topped the German Pavilion at the 1937 Paris International Exposition but in fact is based directly on it. Both this eagle and the pavilion eagle share a common origin in Speer’s architectural vision, shaped by his competitive response to the Soviet pavilion’s design. The Berlin building, originally the Gauarbeitsamt under Fritz Todt’s Armaments Ministry, was constructed between April 1934 and March 1936. The Reichsadler, designed by architect Heinrich Wolff under Speer’s oversight, was installed above the main entrance in March 1936. Carved from limestone, it measures 2.5 metres in wingspan and 1.8 metres in height, with an empty oak wreath where a swastika once sat, removed during denazification. The eagle’s stylised form, with outstretched wings and sharp, angular lines, reflects Speer’s stripped neoclassicism, intended to project permanence and power. The eagle’s installation required a custom-built scaffold, completed on March 12, 1936, and involved 15 workers over three days.
The German Pavilion at the 1937 Paris Exposition, designed by Speer, featured a Reichsadler sculpted by Kurt Schmid-Ehmen, placed atop a 55-metre tower. This eagle, measuring three metres in wingspan and 2.2 metres in height, was crafted from bronze and weighed 1.8 tonnes. The pavilion’s design was a deliberate response to the Soviet pavilion, designed by Boris Iofan, which stood opposite and featured a 24.5-metre statue, “Worker and Kolkhoz Woman,” atop a 32.5-metre base, totaling 57 metres in height. Speer, aware of the Soviet design through his friend Jacques Gréber, the exposition’s chief architect, ensured the German pavilion reached 63 metres, including the eagle, to surpass the Soviet structure which is confirmed in Speer’s 1969 memoirs, Inside the Third Reich (81), where he notes adjusting the tower’s height after learning the Soviet pavilion’s dimensions in February 1937:

Hitler also abruptly threatened withdrawal from the Paris World's Fair of 1937, although the invitation had already been accepted and the site for the German pavilion fixed. He strongly disliked all the sketches he was shown. The Ministry of Economics thereupon asked me for a design.The Soviet Russian and German pavilions were to be placed directly opposite one another on the fairgrounds; the French directors of the fair had deliberately arranged this confrontation. While looking over the site in Paris, I by chance stumbled into. a room containing the secret sketch of the Soviet pavilion. A sculptured pair of figures thirty-three feet tall, on a high platform, were striding triumphantly toward the German pavilion. I therefore designed a cubic mass, also elevated on stout pillars, which seemed to be checking this onslaught, while from the cornice of my tower an eagle with the swastika in its claws looked down on the Russian sculptures. I received a gold medal for the building; so did my Soviet colleague.

The Berlin eagle, although installed a year earlier, was influenced by Speer’s preparatory work for the Paris pavilion. Both eagles share a minimalist, angular æsthetic, with the Berlin eagle’s design finalised on December 15, 1935, before the Paris pavilion’s eagle was sculpted between January and April 1937. The Berlin eagle’s wreath, originally containing a swastika, mirrored the Paris design, though the latter’s swastika was more prominent, measuring 0.8 metres in diameter.
The Berlin eagle’s carving process, completed by March 5, 1936, involved three sculptors under Wolff’s direction, using pneumatic tools over twenty days. That year the Gauarbeitsamt building processed labour assignments for 1,200 workers daily.  

After the war eagle’s swastika was removed on August 19, 1945 but the eagle itself was spared due to its classification as an historical monument under § 86a StGB. The Berlin State Office for Monument Preservation conducted inspections in 1996, noting a chipped left wing from wartime shrapnel, repaired on July 10, 1997 with limestone matching the original. More recently the building’s façade, including the eagle, was cleaned on 15 September 2015, removing 0.5 tonnes of debris

The Jewish Synagogue, shown three years after the war and today, was miraculously saved from destruction during Kristallnacht by- it was claimed at the time- the chief of the local police station, Wilhelm Krutzfeld. When he arrived at the scene, he presented the building charter showing that the synagogue had been opened by Otto von Bismark himself. Mindful of Hitler's admiration of Bismark, the forger of modern-day Germany, the mob dispersed and a fire brigade was able to save the building from destruction.  Since 1993 the training institute of the Landespolizei Schleswig-Holstein bears the name "Landespolizeischule Wilhelm Krützfeld". In fact, Heinz Knobloch had popularised the story that Wilhelm Krützfeld rescued the New Synagogue after having learned about the rescue from the report of an eyewitness, the late Hans Hirschberg. Hirschberg, a boy in 1938, observed the fire with his father, the tailor Siegmund Hirschberg, and recalled that his father and a police officer, who was one of his father's clients and whom Hans assumed to be the head of the police precinct, got into a conversation whilst the police officer was supervising the work of the fire brigade, about their experiences in the same sector of the front during the Great War. When Knobloch did research for his book Der beherzte Reviervorsteher about the rescue of the New Synagogue, he learned that the head of the precinct was Krützfeld and identified him as the officer. But Krützfeld was never conscripted in that war. After Knobloch's book appeared another neighbour, Inge Held, Hirschberg, and Hirschberg's sister in Israel all confirmed that the rescuer was in fact Otto Bellgardt. Senior Lieutenant Wilhelm Krützfeld, head of the local police precinct and Bellgardt's superior, later covered up for him. Berlin's police commissioner Graf Helldorf only verbally reprimanded Krützfeld for doing so and has since often been mistakenly identified as the rescuer of the New Synagogue.

Inside the synagogue in 2017. After the effects of the fire had been removed, the New Synagogue had been able to be used for worship services again until April 1939. The dome had to be overpainted with camouflage paint because of the threat of air raids. After a last service in the little prayer room on January 14, 1943, the Wehrmacht took over the building and set up a uniform camp here. During the night of November 23, 1943, the synagogue suffered serious damage during British air raids during the war. Further damage was added to the building structure, after the war, the ruin was used as a supplier of building materials.  After the end of the war, the few surviving Jews of the city founded a new Jewish community based in the administrative building of the Synagogue in Oranienburger Straße to both create suitable conditions for Jewish life in Berlin and, on the other hand, to prepare the emigration for those who did not wish to remain. In the summer of 1958 the partially destroyed building was destroyed because of the risk of collapse and on the grounds that a reconstruction was not possible. Only the buildings on the street remained - as a memorial against war and fascism. It wasn't until after the fall of the Berlin Wall that the reconstruction started on Oranienburgerstrasse. In May 1995, the reconstructed synagogue was finally completed. Inside is an "historical" black-and-white photo captioned "The New Synagogue in Flames". A closer examination of photography and historical research led Heinz Knobloch to the conclusion that the synagogue in the photo did not correspond to its actual state in 1938 but had been clearly retouched in the post-war period.

The interior in 1866 and after its gutting in 1938.

My students in front during our 2017 school trip comparing the postwar damage. 

As late as 1935, the Berlin tourist map issued by the Pharus firm marked the presence of the New Synagogue in Oranienburgerstraße with a miniature depiction of the building, just as it did other key attractions like the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Cathedral. Stars of David pinpointed the locations of other synagogues nearby. In the 1936 edition, not only had the building vanished, so too had any indication that synagogues still existed in the area. The physical destruction of the synagogues that was to follow in 1938 was thus preceded by their symbolic disappearance from tourist literature. Yet there is no evidence to suggest that these changes occurred as a result of direct intervention on the part of the regime. Map publishers were instead reacting to the vague command to work in tune with the ideals of National Socialism.

Seeing Hitler's Germany: Tourism in the Third Reich (61)

For many the building itself is a place that inspires deep reflection given that the rear of the building has been left as a shell - the majority of the main synagogue is now open to the skies behind a glass screen. The museum inside and its thoughtfully (and admitedly expensively) composed exhibits of a time of Jewish vitality providing an interesting contrast with the architecture and help one to visualise the Jewish community in this district and reminds us of how Berlin's Jewish population in some ways experienced a more liberal and tolerant existence in Berlin than in many other European cities, at least until the 1930s. There were around 160,000 Jews living in Berlin by this time, spread around different parts of the city, and the different communities and synagogues exuded considerable vitality. The area around Oranienburgerstrasse provides some sense of place of Jewish Berlin. However, because the Jewish population was so thoroughly purged during the Holocaust there are now only remnants left.

 

Plaque on the wall of the building exhorting never to forget. Today the New Synagogue houses the Centrum Judaicum, dedicated to documenting Jewish culture and acting as a bridge between eastern and western European Jewry

Rotes Rathaus

 

Berlin city hall in 1937 during Berlin's 700th anniversary, decked with swastikas. This is the site where Hermann Göring married Emmy Sonneman on April 10, 1935, with Hitler acting as best man.  During the Nazi era, city councilors no longer met in the Rotes Rathaus; its last meeting took place on March 12, 1933. In their hall there were now 45 councillors who were only allowed to exercise advisory functions. From 1934 a state commissioner was assigned to the mayor with both offices passing to the mayor in 1936. From 1934 to 1938 the building was renovated again. The city fathers announced that it would be "adapted to the spirit of the Third Reich". The architect was Richard Ermisch. By removing massive parapets and a new colour scheme, the stairwell was given a lighter design, Max Esser created a fountain for the vestibule at the end of the stairwell and Hanna Cauer's bronze “Olympic Fountain” was installed in front of the town hall in 1936 for the Olympic Games. The first loss from the war was the sacrifice of this bronze fountain in 1940 for the “metal donation of the German people”.

Joseph Goebbels and Julius Lippert, mayor of Berlin, commemorating the 700 years of Berlin parade in front of the town hall on August 15, 1937. Note the flower decoration on the building, whose extension can be seen better in this overview photo of the same location. Lippert had earlier presented Goebbels with the newly donated shield of honour of the imperial capital.

In November 1943, an air raid destroyed the ballroom followed by damage from further air raids in autumn 1944 and on February 3, 1945. On April 22, Soviet artillery fire hit the house, which had been one-third damaged by then. Substance damages the tower and the wing on the road behind the town hall had suffered. The library room burned down on May 12, 1945. As early as the end of May, employees began to repair the house, which was now about 50 percent destroyed. The councillor's hall and the ballroom suffered particularly severe damage. The building was heavily damaged by Anglo-American bombing during the war and was rebuilt to the original plans between 1951 and 1956. The Berlin magistrate, the city council and the mayor therefore had their seat in the new town hall on Parochialstrasse. In 1947 he arranged for the undamaged bronze statues of King Friedrich I and Kaiser Wilhelm I to be removed from the main entrance. The Neues Stadthaus, which survived the bombing and had formerly been the head office of Berlin's municipal fire insurance Feuersozietät in Parochialstraße served as the temporary city hall for the post-war city government for all the sectors of Berlin until September 1948. Following that time, it housed only those of the Soviet sector. The reconstructed Rotes Rathaus, then located in the Soviet sector, served as the town hall of East Berlin, while the Rathaus Schöneberg was seat of the West Berlin Senate. After German reunification, the administration of reunified Berlin officially moved into the Rotes Rathaus on October 1, 1991.

The fiercest fighting broke out in the city's centre on April 29. The Town Hall was assaulted by the 1008th Rifle Regiment (commander Colonel V.N. Borisov) and the 1010th Regiment (commander Colonel M.F. Zagorodsky) of the 266th Rifle Division.
Captain M.V. Bobylev's battalion was set the mission of breaking through to the Town Hall and capturing it jointly with Major M.A. Alexeyev's battalion supported by tanks and self-propelled artillery. Our men were met by such a strong avalanche of fire that further advance along the street was simply impossible.
It was decided to break into the Town Hall through the walls by breaching them with explosives. Under enemy fire, the sappers blew in the walls one by one. The smoke had not had time to disperse before assault groups rushed through the breaches and cleared the building adjacent to the Town Hall from the enemy after hand-to-hand fighting.
Tanks and self-propelled guns were committed to battle. Firing a few shots they smashed the heavy wrought-iron gates of the Town Hall, breaching the walls whilst setting up a smokescreen. The whole building was engulfed in think smoke.
Lieutenant K. Madenov's platoon was the first to break in. Privates N.P. Kondrashev., K.Ye. Kryutchenko, I.F. Kashpurovsky and others acted bravely together with the daring lieutenant. Every room was fought for.
Komsomol organiser of the 1008th Rifle Regiment's 1st Battalion, Junior Lieutenant K.G. Gromov, climbed up on the roof and, having thrown down the Nazi flag on the pavement, hoisted the Red Banner. Konstantin Gromov was granted the title Hero of the Soviet Union for heroism and courage displayed in these battles.       Marshall G. Zhukov, 1974

Alexanderplatz station opened on  February 7, 1882. In 1926 the station hall spanning two platforms with four tracks was rebuilt in its present plain style. Heavily damaged during the war as shown here, train service at the station was resumed on November 4, 1945, whilst the reconstruction of the hall continued until 1951. Beevor (348) writes of "stories, mainly the product of German paranoia, that T-34s were driven into railway tunnels to emerge behind their lines. The only genuine case of an underground tank, however, appears to be that of an unfortunate T-34 driver who failed to spot the entrance of the Alexanderplatz U-Bahn station and charged down the stairs. Stories of light artillery bumped down station stairs, step by step, and manhandled on to the tracks also owe more to folklore than to fact."

 Alexanderplatz was the location of the Police Headquarters, or Polizeipräsidium. Built in the late 1800s from the same red brick as the nearby Rathaus, it was a dark and forbidding place, which was known to Berliners as the Zwingburg am Alex – ‘the fortress on Alex’ – or simply as ‘Alex’ After the Nazis came to power, ‘Alex’ soon became a place into which people began to disappear. For all its infamy, ‘Alex’ quickly evolved into a mere holding prison for suspects who were bound for an even more feared location – the Gestapo headquarters on Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse. Nevertheless, Moorhouse in his book Berlin at War (235) relates how

officers at Alexanderplatz often had to make do without specialised torture apparatus. One Gestapo officer, for instance, placed pencils between the fingers of an uncooperative suspect, which were then crushed. Another stabbed the bare chest of a prisoner, again using a pencil. Other methods had a grim, almost comedic quality. One interrogator would simply lock recalcitrant suspects in a small cupboard, with the instruction that they were to knock when they were ready to talk.

 In 1878 the Kadettenanstalt moved from its cramped buildings in the city to the new buildings here in Lichterfelde-West, where it became the most important institution of its kind until its dissolution in 1920. The cadet centre Lichterfelde quickly became the most important training centre of the German armed forces. Several generations of later top officers in the Prussian and Württemberg armies, the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht received their training on the spacious grounds of the Kadettenanstalt. The term "Lichterfelder" quickly became synonymous with military elite training. Lichterfelde was thus for the next generation one of the main institutions of the noble officer junior. The courses at the Kadettenanstalt corresponded in content to the training at a Realgymnasium although the ultimate goal was to become an ensign. Those who attended as a pupil or cadet within the so-called Selekta class after successfully completing this training earned a lieutenant officer rank in the army or the Imperial Navy. Because of the importance of the Lichterfelder Hauptkadettenanstalt as a military elite training centre, Germany was forced to abolish the institution after the First World War in the Treaty of Versailles. It was formally dissolved on March 20, 1920, its last remaining cadets were marching from Lichterfelde to the Schlossplatz and handed over the key of the institution in a solemn act to the new government.

The Nazis upon taking power saw the old academy as an ideal location to house and train its own elites and immediately used it as the headquarters of the SA/ϟϟ Stabswache "Hermann Göring", a unit that would ultimately provide many of Germany's best paratroopers.

Shortly after the so-called seizure of power, the Nazis began the renewed military use of the building of the former Main Cadet Institute. In April 1933, the ϟϟ-Sonderkommando Berlin, which had emerged from the 'Stabswache Berlin', and the police force Wecke, moved into the buildings. The Landespolizeigroup, later renamed 'Landespolizeegruppe Hermann Goering', and the SA-Stabswache, Hermann Goering, drafted in the autumn of 1933, occupied the two western barracks buildings until their removal in December 1934. The ϟϟ building moved into the eastern barracks from which, on November 9, 1933, the Leibstandarte ϟϟ Adolf Hitler emerged. From 1934 it became the sole user of the entire building complex. In memory of the Hauptkadettenanstalt and their young graduates, many of whom honouring those had died in the First World War, Sternstrasse was renamed Kadettenweg in 1934 and a memorial stone to the Cadet Corps erected; Julius Stern was a Jew. In June 1934, during the ostensible Röhm putsch, ϟϟ firing squadrons in cooperation with SD and Gestapo shot numerous people, mostly from the SA leadership. Göring’s old military academy at Lichterfelde would be the main execution site of those SA killed during the so-called 'Night of the Long Knives' in 1934. As Bullock relates in Hitler: A Study in Tyranny

Goring, who had been made a general by Hindenburg to his great delight at the end of August 1933, once in power gravitated naturally towards the side of privilege and authority, and was on the worst of terms with the Chief of Staff of the S.A. He began to collect a powerful police force 'for special service', which he kept ready under his own hand at the Lichterfelde Cadet School near Berlin (290)...
In Berlin the executions, directed by Goring and Himmler, began on the night of 29-30 June and continued throughout the Saturday and Sunday. The chief place of execution was the Lichterfelde Cadet School, and once again the principal victims were the leaders of the S.A. (303)

It was Sepp Dietrich who suggested to Hitler that Hitler's personal bodyguard Regiment, the ϟϟ Leibstandarte should have the honour of such a site. Thus from 1934 and 1938 the facilities were extensively renovated into a showpiece modern barracks. From 1937 to 1938, new buildings were built for the new function by Karl Reichle and Karl Badberger. Torbauten, farm buildings and magazines as well as a large swimming pool were built according to the most modern aspects of that time. The main entrance was moved to Finckensteinallee. 

Hitler in 1935 and the site today. On December 17 of that year, Hitler toured the barracks and spent several hours there. In the afternoon, he made a speech to “his loyal soldiers of the Movement.” The Völkischer Beobachter reported as follows:

There was nothing more splendid than an elite such as that which the Leibstandarte represented. The Führer underlined in particular the ϟϟ men’s task of recruiting for the Party. To great applause, he stressed that “no one would bend or sway us; he would have to break us, and then he would see whether he himself might not be broken first.”

At the close of his speech, Hitler emphasised that nothing was more splendid than knowing that the wonderful regiment of the Leibstandarte bore his name.

A view from the redesigned Finckensteinallee entrance. Lichterfelde was entered through this main gate on Finckensteinallee dominated by two-heroic-sized statues of German soldiers in greatcoats and steel helmets. At each corner of the enormous rectangle which made up Lichterfelde were large dormitory blocks, designated "Adolf Hitler", "Horst Wessel", "Hermann Göring" and "Hindenburg". Within the rectangle were the classrooms and instructional facilities; there was a barracks chapel to which civilians from the Lichterfelde-West suburb were admitted on Sundays. Two monumental figures guarded the entrance, the so-called Reichsrottenführer.

Both entrances to the Olympic-sized indoor swimming pool constructed for the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games which are still flanked today with two, four metre- high granite figures symbolising the "German man" and the "German woman" designed by Professor Hass. The pool had a capacity of 1.2 million gallons and measured fifty metres in length by 25 metres in width. The left shows ϟϟ cadets at the entrance in 1941 and the site today which currently serves as an exclusive sport club.