Скачать или смотреть East (Ost) / West Berlin April 1990 (1)

Some primarily U-Bahn (underground railway / subway) related views filmed in Berlin in April 1990, which was after the wall had been opened but when the city was still divided.

1) Alexanderplatz was the focal point for the Eastern part of Berlin, and here we see some large & small profile U-Bahn trains (note the 'door closing' lights and bells) plus the main Centrum department store and a shop selling 'Western' products for people with 'hard' currency (ie: £, $, DM, etc).

Not filmed (to avoid possible arrest) were signs inside Centrum in German, French, English and Russian saying that many of the goods on display could only be sold to people with Berlin Residency Cards (ie: people from the part of Berlin in the former DDR / GDR).

There is also a ride inside a small profile U-Bahn train.

2) Wittenbergplatz was part of the focal point for the Western part of Berlin, and here we see a gift from London Transport, some small profile U-Bahn trains (note the lack of any type of 'door closing' alarms) plus some internal & external views of the restored station booking hall and the nearby large KaDeWe department store.

3) A ride through some closed stations inside a large profile U-Bahn train on line U8.

After the building of the wall in 1961 the U8 only carried West Berliners, linking suburbs to the north and the south of the city via Alexanderplatz but with the stations in the Eastern controlled part of Berlin being sealed so that no-one could enter / leave them and armed guards on the station platforms to kill anyone who tried to board a passing train.

At the time of filming one station (Rosenthaler Platz) had already been reopened, but the other 5 (on U8) remained closed, with the platforms dimly lit, and trains travelling through without stopping.

4) A photograph taken in December 1989 of a typical U-Bahn station in East Berlin which because the trains which served it ran through to West Berlin was closed.