2 July 1990. S-Bahn from West Berlin to Alexanderplatz

See how the Wall has been mostly torn down, as well as see the changing face of Alexanderplatz

[@anthonywalsh7613]

I'm sure Berlin is still a fantastic city. I was there 88-90 & it was a wonderful time to be young. I absolutely loved this nostalgic video

[@tuanduong-wf7eu]

Seem me , me too .

[@dissdad8744]

Born and raised Berliner here. Born early 1980s, grew up in Friedrichshain, now staying next to Hackescher Markt. Watching this means a lot to me. Thanks for sharing the footage. Danke!

[@LordPrutsikas]

Hakescher Markt...What a wonderful place....I still remember this Irish Bar (Kilkenny) under the bridge which I visited lots of times in 2019...

[@toml.1408]

I took the train to Berlin in December of 1990. It was a 3-day tourist visit. No restrictions and I had full access to all locations, including that giant radio/TV tower in the former east Berlin. The wall was all gone and I quickly walked through the Brandenburg Gate that was undergoing a major renovation. I hope to return someday.

[@ziegenhagenm]

Yes it was quite interesting to see the changes and inconsistencies day by day. Am glad I had my camcorder to record some of this and deciding to share both with those who went through it themselves and those who weren't born yet or too young to remember. Am sure there are many TV programs on this time but still i'm glad to show how I experienced it.

[@erik_griswold]

The period from 30 June 1990 (end of Ostmark) until 3 October 1990 (unification of BRD and DDR) was quite surreal.

[@erikcortez1611]

THAT I can imagine...............

[@helenasommerwind]

Jetzt die Videos erst entdeckt, bin begeistert 😊

[@erik_griswold]

As of this date, the two Germanys still existed and were still seperate countries, although just a day prior (1 July 1990) East Germany had adopted the West German Deutschmark as its currency which is why there are western goods in the East Berlin shops. West Berlin was still a city under French/UK/USA occupation and the western powers still had rights to patrol the Soviet Sector (East Berlin). That explains the British Military Police Volkswagen van sitting in East Berlin's Alexanderplatz.

[@tomquimby6432]

You can also see a military tactical truck sitting there I suspect British. I was in Berlin 10 years earlier 1979-1980. Did the Allied armies let soldiers go to East Berlin at this point in civilian clothes and no flag orders?

[@Steve14ps]

@@tomquimby6432 I remember trips being organised by the British Army and the RAF for families of military personnel to go from the British Sector to the East Sector, a bus with military number plates was used.

[@peternewman3487]

God this brings back memories. My late mother was born in Rostock but her and my Oma managed to go to the West and then lived in Bad Oldesloe where I was born ( English Father I will add ) my Mum had a cousin who lived near Leipzig and her son lived in Kopenick Berlin and I visited them in 1990 and we traveled a lot on the u bahn and I first met her son Ulli at the World clock at Alex platz and we walked for miles around East and West Berlin and I visited them many times. One family related to us disappeared but we found out after the wall came down that they had bribed some border guards to get them through to West Berlin and they ended up living in Rosenheim in Bayern. All of my Mums cousins have now died and I have lost contact with their adult children.

[@hannofranz7973]

Ich habe diese Bilder von der halbabgerissenen Mauer zwischen Reichstag und Spreeufer noch nie gesehen. Ein beeindruckendes Zeitdokument.

[@Busfan87]

That S-Bahn train you rode from Alexanderplatz westward is one of the first 44 modernized trains of BR 277, called "Warzenschwein" (warthog). I acknowledge the red door closing lights over the doors in the mirror image of the window at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="230">3:50</a>. Only the first 44 trains of this series had this design of the lights.

[@huberthubert860]

Busfan87 well spotted, thx!

[@dsm2240]

I watched a Stasi training video. Part of it showed the total crap people had to endure leaving East Berlin through the S-Bahn at Friedrichstrasse.

[@cmel0]

when you leave the typical berliner tourist spots, you will realize that there is still an east and west berlin, both are very different form each other, specially on the east , which for me has the most spirit and life, than the west, by the way great footage

[@lkrnpk]

I don't know, East still feels not so good compared to Kudamm and area around it... was there recently, and don't get me wrong I like especially older Soviet architecture like on Karl Marx Allee, the old Stalinist buildings, and Alexanderplatz has its charm too, despite the commercialization. I have not been in many places on the East side though but still West seems much more livable and happy. Maybe if I stayed in the East I would feel different, but just those streets down south from Charlottenburg station and Kudamm there, away from tourist trails, where people life, feel much nicer than East side commieblocks going inside Karl Marx Allee district.

[@dissdad8744]

@@lkrnpk Don't overgeneralise! This is not really an East vs West issue, since even within the former West and withing the former East of Berlin there are many differences (always have been) from district to district. Dahlem has always been more upper class and more academic than let's say Wedding or Neukölln, which have always been strongholds of the working class, even before the arrival of lower social strata immigrants. In the East, Friedrichshain and Prenzlauer Berg have always been more liberal, non-conformist and progressive than say Hohenschönhausen or Marzahn, were the more normotypical and conforming citizens with a less subversive and autonomous mindframe reside. Obviously Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain have literally been colonised and gentrified by outsiders (particularly wealthy upper-middle class West Germans), ever since East Berlin and the GDR have been assimilated into the Bundesrepublik and it's increasingly neoliberal sociopolitical framework. The parts of Charlottenburg you are referring to are the old bourgeoise parts of West Berlin and they are indeed nice, if you are attracted to this sort of lifestyle, it's not very representative of Berlin overall though. If you like this sort of environment you will get more lucky moving to Munich, Stuttgart or even Hamburg (which despite many similarities with Berlin is much more affluent and clean).

[@PlumbobAddict]

such a gentrifier thing to say, the east has much charm as the west

[@DerBerliner53]

Der gute alte Ostblock

[@alteschulesuedhessen]

The so-called "City West" near Zoo Station was the upper-class hotspot of Berlin since the 1920s. Even the KaDeWe department store isn't a synonyme of the Cold War. It existed a long time before ww2. But, as explained before, this part of the city is not "how (west) berlin is".

[@jamestulk5111]

I was there in 82. I crossed through Fredtichstrass station. It was like entering a different world.

[@6000mikesch]

wie schön ist heute unsere Hauptstadt geworden, wenn man es mit diesem Chaos vergleicht!

[@MRLBRMNN]

berlin ist immer noch chaos :) das gehört zu berlin

[@mariokoch1298]

Wenn man sich den Alex heute ansieht, ist das oberpeinlich für eine Hauptstadt.

[@einfachleckerkochenmitTom]

OMG das ist so lang her OMG waren das tolle Zeiten... ich kann mich noch genau an bestimmte Plätze erinnern .. einfach Geschichte aber doch so Nah noch.. vielen Dank Tom ein Berliner

[@ziegenhagenm]

freut mich das es gefallen hat. Hatte nich gedacht als ich es gefilmt hat, has es eine solche zukunft haben wird.

[@NarnianLady]

Many thanks - yes, that was quite surreal. I was visiting Germany at that time period & really excited to live through that era. wow. I must say that the transport system adapted to open borders quite quickly and that shows the efficient & resilient nature of the German people...

[@villy27]

Everything was there, even during the time of the wall. They only had to open a gate there. Bevor 1990 the trains from west and east both terminated in Friedrichstraße on different plattforms with a wall of steel seperating the plattforms.

[@ziegenhagenm]

correct. Friedrichstr was a main border crossing, with besides the S-Bahn from west terminating there as well as the major north-south U-bahn line having a stop there. Both the S-bahn and U-Bahn stations were also used by people to just get off and buy cigarettes or alcohol at the cheaper intershops. When the BVG took over running the S-Bahn in West Berlin in the second half of the 1980s, a curious thing was that the S-Bahn driver was a BVG driver to Lehrter Bahnhof, the last stop in West Berlin, and their turned the train over to an East German Reichsbahn driver for the last stretch to Friedrichstr.

[@NarnianLady]

That's interesting, Manfred Ziegenhagen.. ! Aber wie konnten die Behörden es verhindern dass jemand von Reichsbahn weglaufen (uebersiedeln) wollte...?

[@ziegenhagenm]

die meister Reichsbahnmitarbeiter waren West Berliner

[@NarnianLady]

alles klar :) (eigentlich gar nicht... das Leben in der geteilten Stadt war bestimmt etwas eigenartiges!)

[@Kentokkil]

Thx for the footage Manfred. - 1990 is the year I should have left this city - still torn between staying and heading back to the south...

[@axelmiller8809]

Habe in da in der Nähe gewohnt. Cool :)) Schön das ich noch Fahrkarten habe von 1991. Ja , so war das Damals.

[@jimcarnicom9417]

Thanks very much. I was there in 1985.

[@aleatoraquila6612]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="156">02:36</a> Rolinck Bier straight outta Münster. Danke für das Video!

[@waldemarmoskalecki7891]

Münsterland genauer gesagt. Gebraut in Steinfurt

[@patrickguernsey4929]

I have visited many cities and villages in Germany over the years but I have to admit that if I had to choose 2 places to go back to- right now: it would be The Kudamm and Köpenik (I saw its church in October 1990 while coming back there to see Berlin again ). In fact I had been at first in West Berlin betw. 1980/81 as member of the French military. None of us all regreted having spent at least one year in the ancient Reich capital !

[@okasa-rahardjaagus6217]

Traurige Erinerung! Nie Mal Krieg! Danke, Hr Manfred Z.

[@okasa-rahardjaagus6217]

Korrektiert: Hr Manfred Ziegenhagen. Entschuldigung.

[@sheilanixon913]

We went to Berlin in the summer of 1990 ,and went up the TV Tower in Alexander Platz. What happened to the East German Parliament building ? Was it pulled down? We went on the S Bahn to Kopernick . There is a story about Der Hauptman von Kopernick, but I have forgotten it. We rented a hammer so my son could chip at the Wall but it was too hard . Then a Polish man came along with a sledge hammer and I was able to pick up some chunks of the Wall. He said to me in German, "Dies ist mein Hammer !" and I answered him in German ,"" Doch ! Es ist unserer Mauer . "" -The Polish man said- This is my Hammer and I said "But it is our Wall !"" There was no petrol in Eastern Germany because the State Petrol Stations had closed down . We managed to buy Petrol from an Aral Petrol Station ( a west German firm) on the Autobahn , The queue was 1 kilometer long. Happy days !

[@sheilanixon913]

In August 1990 , Helmut Kohl decided that the buses would run from East Berlin to West Berlin and from West Berlin to East Berlin. T The Berlin Evening papers were full of jokes and cartoons , because no one had given the bus drivers maps of the other part of the city , which they had never been to. Now Prenzlauerberg , in East Berlin is a very trendy area to live in and to sat ,in its amazing Restaurants, East Berlin had many speedy, modern trams , but West Berlin only has buses . There are now 2 new tram services in West Berlin , so I have been told

[@OldSchool-px1xk]

The GDR-Parliament, located in the "Palast der Republik" has been demolished after 2000. Being polluted with asbestos, the structure could no longer be used anyway. Then, after years of debate, the old imperial palace has been reconstructed, which was sitting there before. However, today's politicians have no clue what to do with it, they even find it scandalous it has a Christian motto on the roof. It looks now like it looked before the war, but actually it was too late to bring back the old Berlin. Today's people have no connection to the old history.

[@Seyiid1453]

Die Beste Zeit überhaupt! !980-1990 war es noch schön. Doch jetzt...neeehhhh! Deswegen bin ich jetzt woanders und lebe mein Traum : )

[@12Wackelpudding]

Oh ja. Runtergekommene Häuser, sowjetische Plattenbauten und ne demolierte Mauer mit Minenfeld mitten im Zentrum. Es gibt nichts schöneres.

[@Raydensheraj]

@@12Wackelpudding Es war nicht wie es aussah sondern wie die Menschen waren zu dieser Zeit in Berlin. Wir hatten die besten zeiten unseres Lebens in den 80er und 90er Jahren.

[@Unterwelten]

Cool. Berlin has certainly changed!

[@69waveydavey]

A couple of glimses of the palast der republic behind museum island, a real pity it went. Wish I could have seen this in the flesh. I'm not a fan of cities but Berlin is refreshing.

[@Raydensheraj]

Great times walking with my dad thru the "Todesstreifen" lol....looking for Ammunition, Knifes, Helmets etc. my Dad served the US Military and married my Mother in Berlin...so from 81 until 99 I had Berlin as a home....I went back in 2003 for a month.

[@i.m.8558]

Schönes Video.

[@paddy9i99]

Nice job Manfred

[@enriquegarciabautista8671]

Cuando visité Hamburgo aún funcionaba ese tipo de metro.

[@dpan8346]

At <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="0">0:00</a> Nollerndorferplatz U-Bahn station, at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="24">0:24</a> "Zoo" S-Bahn station.

[@OldSchool-px1xk]

When this was shot, I lived in Berlin, West part, 26 years old. Looking back, these months between the fall of the communist regime and reunification were the best time Berlin would have since the Roaring Twenties. Sadly, we didn't know then. East-Berlin never would be as free and exiting again. Behind the scenes, old elites of the west AND the east already were cutting their deals at the expenses of the common people, while tthey were distracted in a period of believing in ever-lasting peace. But that is how it always goes. Today, the older I get and watching how Germany and Berlin is going down, ruined by leftist politicians again, I miss these days more and more. They'll never come back, but I am grateful we do have these little time machines on KZbin. Thanks for uploading, wish I would have had a camcorder myself back then

[@ziegenhagenm]

thanks for the info.

[@spidyman8853]

Berlin wow. Before it changed into Modern sky scrapers and became the capital of the new Germany. Gone away DDR.

[@mariokoch1298]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="127">2:07</a>min, tolle Öffnungszeiten.

[@no-damn-alias]

Das war früher ganz normal und in sehr dörflichen Gegenden findest du noch heute solche Öffnungszeiten

[@paulfejos5088]

6 mark fürn bier :D und 3,80 fürn berliner fett

[@daveschrdinger]

Genau 30 Jahre!

[@MrRacermike1967]

Haha, ungewöhnlich für einen West- Berliner , auf einmal nach Erkner und KW fahren zu können.😆😆😆

[@waldemarmoskalecki7891]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="140">2:20</a> warum nennt man in Berlin den Orangensaft doch 'Orangenjuice'? Das ist ja weder Deutsch, noch Englisch. Und dann kostet der Orangensaft mehr als eine Flasche Bier. Das waren noch die Zeiten

[@robfriedrich2822]

Die DDR wollte cool sein, aber es war irgendwie nur ein Versuch, der komisch kam.

[@sonnemondundsterne2598]

Ekelhafte Kritzeleien an den U Bahnen und Wänden. Ghettomäßig!

[@12Wackelpudding]

Und da sagen immer alle Berlin sah früher schöner aus... Ich weiß nicht was an dem Trümmerhaufen von Hauptstadt schön gewesen sein soll. Im Mauerbereich stehen ja sogar noch die Ruinen von 1945 rum. Gott sei dank hat man sich dem Problem nach der Wende sofort angenommen, heute ist Berlin meiner Meinung nach ansehnlicher als damals.

[@xXMichey]

Wenn man von "früher" spricht, meint man eigentlich die Zeit vor dem zweiten Weltkrieg. Und da sah Berlin (wie alle anderen deutschen Großstädte auch) nun mal am schönsten aus.

[@lkrnpk]

@@xXMichey That can be said about many cities though, although it is true that German cities suffered the most from this cause of war and now sadly are as they are. But in Stockholm there was no war at all and they decided in the stupidity of 50s-60s to demolish old neighbourhood of Klara and build skyscrapers and 60s shit in the very center of the city. Can't call it anything else than insanity... Yet it was done.

[@conztruct7744]

Michy Also ich finde, dass Berlin heute überaus schick ist. Würdet ihr wirklich zurück wollen in diese alte Zeit? Nee, das war zu eng, zu piefig, zu glattgebügelt...

[@lilloseddio4872]

@@conztruct7744 : Sach ma jets noch? Berlin is nie piefig jewesen und wirds ooch nie sein.