East Berlin U-Bahn train rides 1989

U-Bahn train journeys through Communist East Berlin, East Germany shortly before the Iron Curtain was ripped from top to bottom. The first trip is from Schonhauser Allee to Dimitroff Strasse on line 2 which was run in two separate parts in East & West Berlin. The next is on line 5 from Tierpark to Biesdorf Sud, the terminus at that time, the line was under construction beyond there.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• East
• Berlin
• Germany
• U-Bahn
• underground
• train
• 1989
• Communist
• Schonhauser
• Dimitroffstrasse
• Tierpark
• Biesdorf
• Prenzlauerberg
• Friedrichsfelde
• Unterbahn
• iron curtain

[swellh2o]

How were you able to film inside a U Bahn train? I thought the East German government didn't allow people to film certain things. Also, isn't Lichtenberg now considered a dangerous area for non Germans?

[Yolticat]

@swellh2o It was not allowed. To say I was noticed is an understatement...there was quite a reaction from the public, some warned me to be careful; others suggested I stop filming; some just interested. On an S-Bahn platform I was accosted by a soldier inviting me to put the camera away immediately! I decided to accept this invite. Returning across the frontier, I had separated the camera and the film cassette for safety. Throughout the whole day in East Berlin I had not seen another camcorder.

[swellh2o]

@Yolticat You're lucky. had you gone a few years earlier, I think the police/people wouldn't have been so lenient. You do know that the 1st Ubahn line you took is now connected to a subway in (West) Berlin, right?

[Yolticat]

@swellh2o Yes. Line 1 I think.

[Yolticat]

@swellh2o A day visa could be got at Frierischstrasse because that's what I did.

[swellh2o]

Does anyone remember if there was a checkpoint at Staaken (further west of Olympia Stadion station)

[Yolticat]

@swellh2o Checkpoint Friedrichstrasse could not have only been for German nationals as I was allowed through as a non-German. Anyone who could show the correct papers was allowed through to the East. I did not return that same way, so possibly (though unlikely) it was for Germans only from East to West. I can't remember if it was Checkpoint Charlie I returned via, so could that have been the one that was for Germans only? I do remember there was indeed one point for Germans only.

[swellh2o]

@Yolticat I thought Checkpoint Friedrichstrasse was only for German nationals.

[swellh2o]

I remember taking the East Berlin U Bahn in August 1989. The line (now U5) was being extended to Honow, which was a town in Brandenburg, just outside East Berlin (the town was absorbed into Berlin during Reunification in 1990)