Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof

The Anhalter Bahnhof is a former railway terminus in Berlin, Germany, about 600 m south east of Potsdamer Platz. Although it closed more than half a century ago, the name lives on at a nearby station on the city's S-Bahn network and also covered here.

Early days

The Anhalter Bahnhof was the Berlin terminus of a line begun on 15 April 1839, opened on 1 July 1841 as far as Jüterbog (the inaugural train being hauled by the very first Borsig locomotive), and extended to Dessau, Köthen and beyond at later dates. Passing through the historical region of Anhalt, it became known as the "Anhalter course" and this in turn gave the Berlin terminus its name. It quickly developed into a network that carried train services to and from Leipzig, Frankfurt/Main and Munich. Like the nearby Potsdamer Bahnhof, the Anhalter Bahnhof started out as a fairly modest affair (behind a reasonably imposing administration block, the platform area was a mere 15 m wide), but both would go on to much bigger and better things in later years to cope with growing traffic, the Anhalter Bahnhof destined to be Berlin’s biggest and finest station.

The front facade faced Askanischer Platz, which was basically a widened section of a street that at that time was known as Hirschelstraße (later Königgrätzer Straße, Stresemannstraße, Saarland Straße and today back again to Stresemannstraße), then a fairly ramshackle thoroughfare linking Askanischer Platz with Potsdamer Platz (and the Potsdamer Bahnhof), and with Berlin's old customs or excise wall running down its centre. At the time of the Anhalter Bahnhof’s construction there was no opening in the customs wall at this location, and so one was clearly needed so that travellers could get from city to station and vice versa. And so the Anhalter Gate was created in 1839-40, and bore a strong resemblance to architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel's Potsdam Gate up the road. A new thoroughfare, Anhalterstraße, led from the gate into the city. The Anhalter Gate was one of four extra ones provided in the years after the customs wall’s original erection, and these increased the total number of gates around the city from 14 to 18. The customs wall eventually became redundant and was demolished in 1866-7, which allowed Hirschelstraße (newly renamed Königgrätzer Straße), to be developed into a proper street for the first time.

The biggest station in Europe?

In 1872, architect Franz Heinrich Schwechten (1841-1924) designed the vast new station that would also be the biggest in Germany and at the time the biggest in Continental Europe, though it was later surpassed. A temporary station was opened in 1874; the old one was demolished in 1875 and the new one begun in 1876. On 15 June 1880, the new terminus was opened by Kaiser Wilhelm I and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. The new facade was 101 m across and embellished with zinc sculptures titled "Day and Night" by Ludwig Brunow (1843-1913), positioned either side of the clock above the main entrance. Emil Hundrieser (1846-1911) was responsible for a sculpture called "The International Traffic". Inside the building was a lavish and spacious booking hall with separate waiting rooms and facilities for no fewer than four classes of ticket holders. A separate entrance and reception area were provided for visiting royalty, and these saw frequent use. Behind all this, the huge iron and glass train-shed roof by writer and engineer Heinrich Seidel (1842-1906) measured 171 m long by 62 m wide (covering 10,600 m², under which 40,000 people could stand), and rose to 34 m in height along its centre line. The Anhalter Güterbahnhof (Goods Station), also opened, south of the Landwehrkanal on the same date as the passenger station.

"Gateway to the South"

Initially the rebuilt terminus was still handling train services mainly to and from Leipzig, Frankfurt/Main and Munich, over the old Anhalter course. However, two years later it inherited a whole new range of services with the closure of the Dresdener Bahnhof. This terminus had opened on 17 June 1875, with trains to Dresden (over the so-called "Dresdener course"), Prague and Vienna, but was small and inconveniently sited some distance from the centre of the city, south of the Landwehrkanal. The Anhalter Bahnhof was more than capable of handling these services as well, and so on 15 October 1882 they were switched, and the Dresdener Bahnhof closed (it actually still exists, next to the present Gleisdreieck U-Bahn station, having for many years served as part of a major mail-handling facility, itself since closed, called the Postbahnhof). This move was the key to establishing the Anhalter Bahnhof's ultimate importance, as the terminus became Berlin’s “Gateway to the South,” with services via Dresden not only to Prague and Vienna, but to places as far away as Rome, Naples and Athens. By 1930, trains left its six platforms every three to five minutes, carrying an average of 44,000 people daily (around 16 million a year, compared with barely 49,000 at Tempelhof Airport). Though still less busy than the Potsdamer Bahnhof up the road, the Anhalter Bahnhof was superior in its sheer scale, and in the opulence of its train services. Also by this time, the station was connected directly with the hotel which faced it across Askanischer Platz - the Hotel Excelsior, Europe's largest - by means of a tunnel, believed to be the longest of its kind in the world at 100 m, constructed in 1927-1928. There were even five underground shops down there.

The S-Bahn

In 1939 the S-Bahn or "Stadtbahn" (City Railway) arrived. The idea for a North-South Link rapid transit rail line from Unter den Linden to Yorckstrasse, via Potsdamer Platz and Anhalter Bahnhof, had first been mooted in 1914, but it was not planned in detail until 1928, and then approval had to wait until 1933. Begun in 1934, it was plagued with disasters. Determination to have it finished in time for the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936 meant vital safety measures were ignored: on 20 August 1935, a tunnel collapse just south of the Brandenburg Gate buried 23 workmen of whom only four survived; then on 28 December 1936, a fire near the Potsdamer Platz station destroyed vital equipment. Needless to say, the line was not ready for the Berlin Olympics; in fact it was another three years before it first saw public use. In spite of all the setbacks, it was opened from Unter den Linden down to Potsdamer Platz on 15 April 1939, extended to Anhalter Bahnhof on 9 October, and then on down to Yorckstrasse, to complete the link, on 6 November. At Anhalter Bahnhof S-Bahn station a direct access route to the mainline terminus above was provided from 19 December 1940. At the S-Bahn station four platforms were provided and all were used although just two were planned to suffice: the other two were intended originally to be utilised by another new line, which was to branch off eastwards and run under the city to Görlitzer Bahnhof. A connection from Potsdamer Platz was also to be made. Although construction of some tunnel sections went ahead (and these still exist though inaccessible to the public), the line was never opened.

wimming pool?

The fate of the Anhalter Bahnhof was determined by World War II, and yet even if the war had not occurred, major changes would still have taken place. Under the grand plan by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), to transform Berlin into the "World Capital" Germania, to be realised by Albert Speer (1905-81), the building would have ceased to be a railway terminus. The new North-South Axis, the linchpin of the plan, would have severed its approach tracks, leaving the terminus stranded on the wrong side of it. All trains arriving in Berlin would have run into either of two vast new stations located on the Ringbahn to the north and south of the centre respectively, to be known as Nordbanhof and Südbahnhof, located at Wedding and Südkreuz [1] , while in Speer's plan the former Anhalter Bahnhof was earmarked to become a public swimming pool. In the end, things took a different course.

World War II and its aftermath

During World War II the Anhalter Bahnhof, like most of Berlin, was devastated by British and American bombs and Soviet artillery shells. A massive bombing raid on the night of 23 November 1943 badly affected the station, and caused so much damage to rail infrastructure further out that long-distance trains could no longer run, just a few local services. Two further major raids on 3 February and 26 February 1945, left a terminus with large sections of its roof missing, the rest unsafe and tottering, and no trains running at all. Many sections of the S-Bahn as well as the U-Bahn were also closed during the war due to enemy action, and the section through Anhalter Bahnhof was no exception.

The S-Bahn North-South Link, less than six years old, became the setting for one of the most contentious episodes of the final Battle for Berlin, in late April and early May 1945. With Hitler already dead, the remaining Nazi leaders resorted to increasingly desperate measures to slow the Soviet advance, whatever the consequences for their own citizens. Fearful that the Soviets might try to storm the centre of Berlin by coming through the underground rail tunnels, on 2 May the Nazi leaders ordered SS troops to blow up the bulkheads where the North-South Link passed beneath the Landwehrkanal. Altogether up to 26 km of tunnels and many stations were flooded by this action, most of which had been used as public shelters and also to house military wounded in hospital trains in underground sidings. No one knows how many people were drowned as figures are so diverse and unreliable. According to Soviet propaganda up to 15,000 may have lost their lives, but a more likely figure is two or three hundred.

A fragmentary train service resumed along the North-South Link on 2 June 1946 once massive repairs were well advanced (millions of gallons of water had to be pumped out for starters). Full services recommenced on 16 November 1947, although repairs were not complete until May 1948. The services were extended further in 1951. Another interruption of services was caused by the Uprising of 1953 in East Germany, no trains running between 17 June, the day of the uprising, and 9 July. Meanwhile, above ground, American servicemen had dismantled the surviving sections of the Anhalter Bahnhof's roof in March 1948, and a limited train service had begun operating again in August, with a few trains running out into the Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg regions, but it was not to last. Its final demise was caused by the rapid collapse in relations between the Allied Occupying Powers that controlled Berlin, and Germany as a whole. The Anhalter Bahnhof was served by trains arriving from places in Soviet-controlled East Germany, but the terminus was in West Berlin. An uncomfortable situation to start with, it eventually became a thorn in the Soviets’ side, and so on 17 May 1952, they switched all remaining trains to a station in their Eastern Sector - the Ostbahnhof, and the Anhalter Bahnhof was closed for good, although apparently not before detailed plans and an architect's model had been produced for a vast modern terminus on the site.

After lying derelict for more than eight years, apparently with some rusting tracks and signals still in situ, demolition was begun on 25 August 1960, and completed by 27 August 1961. There was a considerable public outcry, but according to legend someone had put in a good offer for the bricks. The terminus did not vanish entirely however, as the centre portion of the facade was allowed to remain standing.

The Berlin Wall

When the Berlin Wall was erected on 13 August 1961, it had a profound effect on rail services in and around the city, and on the S-Bahn and U-Bahn in particular. Essentially both were divided into two systems, with lines being physically severed where they crossed the border between East Berlin and West Berlin. In most cases trains on either side would simply run as far as the last stop before the border and then reverse back. The S-Bahn North-South Link saw a more bizarre - though not unique - state of affairs. This line, plus two U-Bahn lines elsewhere in the city, suffered from a quirk of geography in that they briefly passed through East German territory en route from one part of West Berlin to another. This gave rise to the infamous "Geisterbahnhöfe" (ghost stations), those unfortunate ones on the eastern side that were sealed off from the outside world and which trains ran straight through without stopping. They would generally slow down however, affording passengers the strange sight of dusty, dimly lit platforms patrolled by armed guards, there to prevent any East Berliners from trying to escape to the West by train. At the points where the lines passed directly beneath the actual border, concrete "collars" were constructed within the tunnels with just the minimum clearance for trains, to prevent people clinging to the sides or roof of the coaches. Anhalter Bahnhof station itself remained open; being in West Berlin, it was the last stop for northbound trains before they entered the "restricted section," and the first stop for southbound trains after they had left the section. However, of its four platforms just two (sometimes only one) saw regular use, and the station appeared to receive only a minimum of cleaning and maintenance.

After the fall of the Wall on 9 November 1989, Anhalter Bahnhof S-Bahn station and all the ghost stations underwent a major refurbishment before being re-opened on 1 March 1992.

The site today

Today the S-Bahn station remains the only one open at the location, and still defiantly called "Anhalter Bahnhof" although it is over half a century since the great terminus above ground closed. As for the terminus itself, today the centre portion of the facade still looks out over Askanischer Platz, having been restored several times since the demolition of the rest of the building. At the top, Ludwig Brunow's "Day and Night" sculptures, somewhat the worse for wear, still sat on either side of the now empty clock space until the most recent restoration of the structure in 2003-2004, but to avoid further corrosion they have now been replaced by copies (the originals can be seen in the Deutsches Technikmuseum (German Technology Museum), close by on the south bank of the Landwehrkanal. The photograph on the right shows the facade remnant in 2005. The oddly-shaped white building faintly visible in the distance on the right is the Tempodrom, a major new concert and event venue.The original "Day and Night" sculptures from the facade, photographed in 2003 in their new home, the Deutsches Technikmuseum. "Day" is on the right, gazing into the distance, while "Night," on the left, is looking away. This view shows the rear of the facade remnant in 2005. In the left background is Europahaus, an office block dating from the early 1930s, while in the right background is the 18-storey Excelsiorhaus, on the site of the former hotel. It is not known whether the underground tunnel that once linked the station with the hotel still exists. In the foreground is a large new synthetic playing surface for sports where the train shed once stood. Immediately south, directly behind the photographer, is the Tempodrom.The Tempodrom, a major new concert and event venue opened on 8 December 2001, extends across the site of the terminus just south of the train shed's former location. Its innovative futuristic roof rises to a height of 37 m. Further south still, extending down to the Landwehrkanal, is an area of woodland, recently tidied up and new paths laid, but amongst the trees and undergrowth, several crumbling sections of platforms are still clearly visible. The Landwehrkanal, at the point where the lines into the Anhalter Bahnhof once crossed it. This location appeared on many picture postcards in the early years of the 20th century, and in some ways it has not significantly changed since then. The red-painted bridge side-on to the camera is a recent construction for pedestrians and cyclists, approximating in appearance the railway bridge that once stood at the same spot. The main arch was once the centre span of three of a much older structure located elsewhere in the city - the Marshal Bridge, built by Eduard Albert Paul Heiner God in 1881-2 and which carried Luisenstraße over the River Spree just to the east of the Reichstag (German Parliament Building). Concerns about its condition, coupled with the need to provide greater clearance for vessels on the river, brought about the replacement of the centre and south spans with one long new span in 1997-9, after which the old centre span was re-erected here as shown, as part of this new bridge designed by Benedict Toon and opened in February 2001. Just beyond it is where the S-Bahn North-South Link runs beneath the canal, and it was here that SS troops blew up the bulkheads in the last days of World War 2, deliberately to flood the tunnel in the hope of slowing the Soviet advance. The Anhalter Bahnhof was out of the picture to the right (north). The buildings in the left background, on the south bank of the canal, house the Deutsches Technikmuseum (German Technology Museum). The other bridge, the higher one crossing the canal at a sharp angle, carries a section of U-Bahn line between Gleisdreieck and Möckernbrücke stations. Out of the picture to the left are surviving parts of the Anhalter Güterbahnhof (Goods Station).

Anhalter Güterbahnhof (goods station)

Hand in hand with the passenger terminus, so the goods station had also been rebuilt at the same time (and was opened on the same day). Also the work of Franz Heinrich Schwechten, it was located on the south bank of the Landwehrkanal immediately to the east of the parallel passenger lines. This artistic representation is Schwechten's own front elevation, showing the twin administration blocks linked by an attractive bridge structure, with three arches through which road vehicles passed into the so-called "ladestrasse" (loading road), 20 m wide. On the left and right of this were two covered goods-handling areas some 210 m in length, with the railway sidings on the other side, to enable efficient movement of goods from railway wagons to road vehicles or vice versa.A 2005 scene showing the goods station today. This is the eastern administration block (on the left in the 1874 elevation), and the only one still standing, now restored and today the home of "Spectrum", the "Berlin Science Centre", another part of the Deutsches Technikmuseum. Its western twin was badly damaged in World War 2 and was demolished in 1959, the bridge structure following in 1963; the grey rendered area on the side of the building in this picture marks the bridge's erstwhile location. Heading down the former loading road on the right, the covered goods-handling area is now used mainly by a variety of small industrial concerns. Further down again is a large overgrown area of almost total desolation. Things are however looking much brighter at the adjacent Anhalter locomotive depot to the west, sandwiched between the Anhalter Güterbahnhof and the former Dresdener Bahnhof. After decades of dereliction its buildings have been restored and also incorporated into the Deutsches Technikmuseum. Anhalter Güterbahnhof 2005 - part of the overgrown area further south.

External links

* [http://www.s-bahn-berlin.de/fahrplanundnetz/sbahnhof_anzeige.php?ID=15 Station information] (S-Bahn) de icon
* [http://www.stadtschnellbahn-berlin.de/index.php?http://www.stadtschnellbahn-berlin.de/geschichte/germania/owsbahn/index.html Stadtschnellbahn]