{"id":10734,"date":"2019-05-08T07:00:14","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T07:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=10734"},"modified":"2019-05-03T15:26:25","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T15:26:25","slug":"germanys-historic-ghost-stations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/germanys-historic-ghost-stations\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany’s Historic Ghost Stations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Today\u2019s post is about die Geisterbahnh\u00f6fe – \u2018ghost train stations\u2019.<\/strong> This is a term you may already be familiar with, but in German, this word has a significant and interesting history. So, let\u2019s delve right into it!<\/p>\n

Throughout this post I may refer to the word in its singular or plural form, so to avoid confusion, here are the forms for both:<\/p>\n

der Geisterbahnhof<\/strong> \u2013 ghost train station (singular)<\/em>
\ndie Geisterbahnh\u00f6fe<\/strong> \u2013 ghost train stations (plural)<\/em><\/p>\n

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A ghost station<\/strong> is a station that has been permanently closed and thus has an eerie, haunted feel to it. In German, the term Geisterbahnhof<\/strong> was used during the Cold War. When Germany was divided into Bundesrepublik Deutschland<\/strong> (West Germany) and Deutsche Demokratische Republic<\/strong> (East Germany), the city of Berlin, too, divided into East and West. This led to the Berlin Verkehrsverbund<\/strong> (public transit network) splitting as well, as freedom of movement between East and West was no longer permitted. As a result, a number of stations were closed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Unter den Linden – one of the ‘ghost stations’ during the Cold War. By Deror avi – Own work, Attribution, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=2569054<\/p><\/div>\n

However, a handful of S-Bahn<\/strong> (Stadtschnellbahn, \u2018overground\u2019) and U-Bahn<\/strong> (Untergrundbahn, \u2018underground\u2019) trains from the West had to pass through East Berlin (they did not stop there). These stations that were passed through were guarded, with barbed wire on the platform to prevent people from trying to escape. These are the stations West Berliners came to call die Geisterbahnh\u00f6fe<\/span><\/strong> – ‘ghost stations’ (note: it was never an official term). The entrances to these Geisterbahnh\u00f6fe were walled up, and any external signs that described them as train stations were removed.<\/p>\n

And whilst West Berlin train maps showed these \u2018ghost stations\u2019 on them, the ones in East Berlin did not.<\/p>\n

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Map showing Geisterbahnh\u00f6fe. Ericmetro [CC0]<\/p><\/div>The exception to this rule was Friedrichstra\u00dfe<\/strong>, a stop that was located in East Berlin, but was only used by West Berlin trains. For this reason, Friedrichstra\u00dfe became a main border crossing between East and West. West Berliners could enter East Berlin here with a visa, so Friedrichstra\u00dfe came to be known as der Tr\u00e4nenpalast<\/strong> – “the palace of tears”, as it was the place where so many sad goodbyes took place when visitors inevitably had to leave. Friedrichstra\u00dfe<\/span> is also where the famous Checkpoint Charlie<\/strong> was located. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, thousands of East Berliners used Friedrichstra\u00dfe train station to cross over to the West, as shown in this photo:<\/p>\n

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By Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1989-1110-044 \/ Settnik, Bernd \/ CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=5424818<\/p><\/div>\n

Former S-Bahn Geisterbahnh\u00f6fe include Bornholmer Stra\u00dfe, Potsdamer Platz and Unter den Linden, while former U-bahn Geisterbahnh\u00f6fe include Stadtmitte, Nordbahnhof, Alexanderplatz and Rosenthaler Platz.<\/p>\n

There are also several Geisterbahnh\u00f6fe in Germany that are unrelated to the Cold War period. One example is Olympiastadion in Munich<\/strong>, which was built to create extra transport for the 1972 Summer Olympic Games. Officially closed in 1988, the remains of this station are still there today. Others can be found in Hanover, K\u00f6ln, and D\u00fcsseldorf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Guten Tag! Today\u2019s post is about die Geisterbahnh\u00f6fe – \u2018ghost train stations\u2019. This is a term you may already be familiar with, but in German, this word has a significant and interesting history. So, let\u2019s delve right into it! Throughout this post I may refer to the word in its singular or plural form, so…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":10737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10499,358450,358451,503858,10235,95225,10382,504099,358425,8883,95131,521852,95066,132170,1196,10167,7599,12082],"class_list":["post-10734","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-berlin","tag-berlin-wall","tag-berliner-mauer","tag-brd","tag-cold-war","tag-ddr","tag-east-germany","tag-geisterbahnhofe","tag-geography-2","tag-german-history","tag-german-language","tag-ghost-stations","tag-history-2","tag-public-transport","tag-public-transportation","tag-train","tag-trains","tag-west-germany"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t