East Berlin's RISKIEST Escape Route: Cold War Ghost Stations Explained

[@MindTheMap]

We’re making it out of East Berlin with this one guys! Jokes aside, thank you for the incredible support on my last video and thanks to every single one of you that subscribed. If you want to join our small Urbanism, Planning and Transit community just hit that subscribe button! -Lukas Also, I’m feeling like this is a premature plug but since some of you asked for it I made this Patreon: www.patreon.com/mindthemap

[@RobespierreThePoof]

Sehr gutes Video. Ein Sprachtipp? Sie haben beinahe perfekt English! Der Satz "defense mechanisms" bedeutet nicht irgendwas militärisch. Es ist ein Satz nur in der Psychologie-Wissenschaft.😊. Es bedeutet die Gedanken, die wir haben, um Dinge zu vermeiden, über die wir nicht nachdenken oder die wir nicht konfrontieren wollen, oder Emotionen, die wir nicht fühlen wollen. Perhaps the word "barricades" or "border fortifications." Gruss bis Berlin und Deutschland. - ein Amerikaner. (Tut mir leid für schlechte Deutsch schreiben. Sie können besseres Englisch!)

[@RobertJarecki]

Very interesting history. No problem understanding the voice over. I could tell you aren't from Alabama, thank goodness! Edit: Also an American (not from Alabama).

[@orglancs]

I visited Berlin in the nineteen eighties and remember this set-up and travelling under the Eastern Sector. It was really chilling. The trains would slow down to pass through the eastern stations, but never stopped. The platforms all looked grimy and unkempt and were just lit by a few dim lights. There was always a pair of East-German guards on the platforms holding machine guns. What a job to have, to spend all day keeping an eye on your fellow citizens, ready to shoot at them. What sophistry on the part of the East-German regime, who called the wall the Anti-Fascist Defence Wall. Erich Honecker said 'every state has the right to defend its borders', (by putting a bullet in the back of its own citizens, if they tried to flee!)

[@dx7388]

I experienced the same in 1989 days before the wall came down. I was doing it deliberately on both western lines running under the east Berlin. I was just playing for a few days.

[@Germanicus2415]

They were right. West is rich but is imperialist and has started all conflicts in the last 30 years. Always meddling in other countries affairs and organizing coups like in ukr.

[@lookoutforchris]

Every state has a right to defend its borders… against invaders coming in. This is simply defensive of your state. Keeping your citizens from coming and going? That is running a prison.

[@brontewcat]

I visited Berlin in October 1989, and. I remember travelling through those stations and how Erie they were. I thought the trains slowed down in the event an East German had made it down there and they could pick them up. I am glad I did not know the exits were blocked.

[@abcdeshole]

And yet there are plenty of people in our societies today who would impose that hell on us all, who will tell you that the GDR was good, actually, and that we should be living under communism, because capitalism is bad.

[@TXnine7nine]

I was born in Potsdam in 1987. My mother said that the wall coming down in 1989 was the only time she ever saw my father cry other than during the birth of his children.

[@MindTheMap]

Beautiful story! My grandparents and family were sitting in the living room crying after they got the news - when my mother walked in she thought someone had died.

[@jasmins203]

@@TXnine7nine cry out of luck or out of desperation? All of you got some hard currency for your worthless communist money in relation 1:2. More than you have ever deserved so I supposed luck.

[@jasonl4411.]

I was in secondary school in 1989 in the UK. We were studying history from 1914 to the present and when the shock announcement of the fall of the Berlin wall happened the lessons had to be quickly changed with the newly developing events in Germany

[@56independent]

My school would just use tutor time for anything less then five years old to teach us about the world so when an important history event would happen, like the discovery of a very contagious virus in China having spread to the world, they'd just pull together a small slideshow for it.

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

I like the way you describe this - "shock announcement" - because that is exactly what it was.

[@kingelvis]

I remember my mate buying a piece of the wall. Seemed like a waste of money as it was a bit of rock with some spray paint on it.

[@qwopiretyu]

​@@kingelvis it belongs in a museum. Whatever he paid was a bargain. It's like owning a cell key from the Bastille.

[@TheMaartian]

Excellent video. A real flashback for me. I was stationed in West Berlin in 1971 with the U.S. Army Security Agency. I had a top secret security clearance and was prohibited from using U-Bahn lines C and D because of the routing under East Berlin. This was 3 years after Russia invaded Czechoslovakia and relations were still pretty tense. I was fortunate to be in Berlin on business for the 3rd anniversary of the Wiedervereinigungstag in 1992. I stayed in a beautiful old hotel just off the Linden Straße. That was the day that the renovated Brandenburger Tor was unveiled. It seemed like there were a million people in the crowd, all very peaceful and happy. SO different from 1971.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you for sharing your story, you had a first row seat to history right there. Not sure if you are able to answer but I at least have to ask: What were you doing in West Berlin with your top secret security clearance?

[@TheMaartian]

@@MindTheMapHi, Lukas. It's been over 20 years now since the collapse of the DDR and the USSR, and there has been one documentary film that touched on it, so I don't think anyone will come after me for answering your question. There were three security compounds at the top of Teufelsberg, one each for the Americans, British and French. I have no idea what went on in the British and French compounds, but a large portion of the American compound was dedicated to radio intercept. There were six groups (A through G) of interceptors (soldiers listening to all the different radio frequencies used by the East Germans and Russians), that rotated in 8 hour shifts. It was a 24/7 operation. I belonged to a special group located in the intercept area, but in a special room behind a barred gate guarded by the military police and then through a secure bank vault type door. We did wireline intercepts of bugs that had been planted in the East after the war ended, but before the Russians took full control, and were physically connected by telephone wires routed through tunnels to our intercept positions. There were 10-12 of those, each with 12 reel-to-reel tape recorders, one for each of the 12 bugs an interceptor would monitor. There were threshold detectors on each channel that had to be adjusted to keep noise from triggering a lamp that indicated speech. When a lamp was triggered, the tape machine would automatically start and the interceptor would switch to that channel and listen. We had both German- (including me) and Russian-speaking interceptors. If the overheard conversation was noteworthy, we used the manual Underwood typewriter with a continuous roll of yellow paper and typed out what we heard, translated into English. We'd hand it to the OOD (Officer On Duty) and he would forward it. That room had been in continuous operation since the end of the war. I spent the first two days on that assignment reading the logs books of noteworthy intercepts starting in the late 1940s. That was meant to instill in us the importance of what we were doing and that we needed to pay constant attention. My ancestors were Prussians, emigrating to the U.S. between 1845 and 1864 from the area on the Polish border that is now eastern Pommern (Pomerania). I had a built-in cover story. All the best, John.

[@MindTheMap]

@@TheMaartian Thank you for your answer John. I have just been to the Teufelsberg for the first time recently (it is now privately owned so you can visit many of the buildings and even get on the roofs) so hearing about the operation going on there is incredible. Paying constant attention to probably many trivial calls sounds pretty draining so I can see why you were stationed there for only a year. But who knows what you might have come across :) Anyways, I appreciate your comments a lot, when making this video I never imagined someone who had actually been prohibited from taking lines C and D back then would be in the comments... All the best, Lukas!

[@KlodFather]

@@TheMaartian - Thank you for your service.

[@TheMaartian]

@@MindTheMap I mentioned that the radio interceptors were assigned to one of six groups who worked rotating 8 hour shifts 24/7. My group of wireline interceptors worked daytime only, when the offices that were bugged were being used (typically Monday-Friday). To your point about "pretty draining", the radio guys referred to my group as "straight daze". 🤣 They were jealous of our schedule and weekends off. They had no idea what went on behind the vault door, and we didn't socialize with them, keeping to ourselves.

[@fdahm]

The german accent is perfect for this video, as it gave it a great quality to it. I learned a lot and enjoyed it even more. You got one more subscriber. Good work!

[@MindTheMap]

Glad to have made it a tad more authentic :) Thank you for subscribing & welcome to the community!

[@KlodFather]

@@MindTheMap - Your voiceover is good and you are clear and concise. Straight to the point which is excellent. Thank you for this great video. On a side note, I bet the East German authorities were just beside themselves when it all came crashing down. Some of the old men who were in the secret police still think they were doing the right thing and hate what Germany is today. There were some strange people involved in those governments... Every government. Trust me there is a reason that Trump called the internal machinery of the US government THE SWAMP. Looking forward to seeing more videos. (I was in the area of Ukraine and Russia where the war is 20yrs ago.) :( Wonderful people.

[@xaverlustig3581]

A small tidbit: When line U5 was extended in december 2020, a new changeover station with line U6 was established, named Unter den Linden. Because it's very close to the previously existing station Französische Straße, the latter was closed for good, and trains have been running through it since 2020. Französische Straße had been a ghost station during the cold war, and now it is again. So anyone who wants to experience how it felt at the time just take a trip on the U6. It's located between Stadtmitte and Unter den Linden, and not lit but clearly visible through the windows.

[@hritiksauw4226]

I just saw it yesterday and damn it was quite shady and spooky.

[@daddybeagleaz907]

@@xaverlustig3581 I'll bet it's an eye opener, I stayed up all night watching in 1989

[@michaelgask]

Thank you. Berlin is such an interesting city. Your voiceovers are great, and I learn so much.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you Michael! I love Berlin, you can spend all day exploring and there is a story behind every corner!

[@michaelgask]

@@MindTheMap You're right. So many important times in history to choose to explore in one city.

[@gabriellyonnet]

Yes for Berlin but No for those fuckers who gave orders and those who respected these at that time.

[@nlpnt]

I had read in a news report from 1989-90 that when the ghost stations reopened, at first they still had all the old signage and ads that had been in place in 1961.

[@MindTheMap]

Yes, the ghost stations were frozen in time...

[@peppertree5706]

Just as the US embassy in Havana, Cuba had a Coke machine that cost five cents for a bottle of Coke. The building was abandoned in 1960.

[@dcarbs2979]

@@MindTheMap Would be a bit like going to a station today seeing adverts for the first Spice Girl album.

[@gabriellyonnet]

They were opened fools !

[@nicholasprince2697]

There is nothing wrong with your voice, your accent or your English. This video is perfect as it is, so don't change. It is great having a German guy narrating this subject. Fascinating and perfect in every way.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you so much!

[@richardjames3356]

7:20 Your voiceovers are fine. In fact I'd rather have a German voice narrating a video on their own country than another nationality.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you! I did indeed struggle a lot less than in the last video where I tried (and failed) to pronounce the names of French Métro stations...

[@RaccoonWithRabbis]

@@MindTheMap I wish I could speak German with an English accent!

[@AndrewTheRadarMan]

My Grandma traveled thru one of these ghost stations. She took a photo outside the subway window with her film camera and within a minute, she was detained. Thankfully, she was able to negotiate with the boarder police and she only had to surrender the film role.

[@jacktattersall9457]

How did the border guards get on the train if the trains didn't stop? That must have been frightening for your grandma.

[@AndrewTheRadarMan]

@jacktattersall9457 according to her, the guards were going from car to car and were already on-board

[@jacktattersall9457]

@@AndrewTheRadarMan Wild. So Eqast Germany guards rode a West German train while it went through East Germany, or did the train stop and let the guards on to do a check before proceeding? Thanks for indulging my curiosity.

[@AndrewTheRadarMan]

@jacktattersall9457 I guess so. This was all from word of mouth, all I knew was that she could've been in some serious shit. And of course

[@fireiceuk9221]

@@AndrewTheRadarMan Most likely she just was stopped by the ticket inspector and / or guards on the western side. Back then "no photography" signs that you still sometimes see on border crossings were taken seriously.

[@ruhri0411]

The U6 ran under Friedrichstrasse in East Berlin. As many underground lines in Berlin ran directly below street level because of the high water table in the city, the citizens of East Berlin must have heard the western trains under their feet when they were shopping. I don't know what it was like at the time of the division, but today there are many ventilation grilles on the pavements of Friedrichstrasse to ventilate the tunnel. You can hear and feel underground trains passing through there.

[@xaverlustig3581]

The old station entrances have been visible through the years of division, and people old enough to remember knew what they were. All the signs hinting at the station had been removed, but some the stairs leading down to the station were kept intact because the guards had to access the station. Some entrances had also been built over and had to be uncovered after 1990. There was a novel by an East German author called "Stadtmitte umsteigen", which means "change trains at Stadtmitte". That was a trick to bypass East German censorship, because only locals knew that what seemed like a through station on East Berlin transport maps was actually a crossing between an East Berlin line and a line leading to West Berlin.

[@ellbo2]

I never considered the impact of the split of Berlin on the metro system. Interesting stuff. I can imagine people were always nervous riding through the Ghost East Berlin stations.

[@joedellinger9437]

In June 1989 I vividly remember our train racing at top speed through a dark level of Stadtmitte station, with a line of heavily armed guards all along the track. It was freaky. You could see a little light filtering in from a lit level above.

[@ellbo2]

@@joedellinger9437 interesting. Defo can imagine it being quite unnerving.

[@johnkramer8091]

My dad visited Berlin for a school trip back then, and his class took either line C or D. The rest of the class got out on the last station before the border as they were supposed to, however he did not manage to get out (daydreaming, or other passengers in the way idk) and was left stranded in the train all alone. Back then, without mobile phones, that would've already been scary enough. But he just so happened to continue on the East Berlin tunnel route: The train kept going and going, he didn't even know what was happening, all he saw were the occasional ghost stations, dimly lit and lined with heavily armed NVA soldiers, and boy did that scare the crap outta him

[@joedellinger9437]

@@johnkramer8091 I took that line on purpose and even so yeah, it was eerie. Stadtmitte was also an active station on an Eastern subway line so had extra security. You could just see a bit of light coming from the next floor up and that there was activity there. The train sped up and raced through that station very very fast. There were so many armed guards all along the track in the station. A lost kid would be freaked out for sure. Later I went into East Berlin on foot. Coming back through Checkpoint Charlie to the West after visiting East Berlin felt like that moment in Wizard of Oz when everything goes from black and white to color. From the Eastern side the wall was mostly inaccessible… hidden behind permanent “construction zones”. But there were places where the wall zone narrowed to pass between two nearby buildings, for example. I would guess access to those buildings on the Eastern side was tightly controlled. In many places in East Berlin the area immediately against the wall was just devastation. Bulldozed flat. Potsdamer Platz was like that. A moonscape. On the Western side the living city went right up to the wall. It was so bizarre a thing. The East Germans even blew up a famous old church that was too near the wall zone not thar long before the wall came down… a couple years? I remember the outcry when that happened.

[@ellbo2]

@@johnkramer8091 damn. I imagine he was quite young at the time also.

[@BruscoTheBoar]

There actually was an successful attempt with Line D/U8 when a BVB employee used the control room of a closed floodgate of the Klostertunnel linking U8 and U2 to cross over into the U8 tunnel with his whole family. He had a red hand lamp with him to stop an approaching U8 train. The driver instantly knew what was going on and quickly loaded his "blind passengers" on the train, made them lay down so that the border guards couldn't see them. But, after the longest minutes of ther lives....they've made it into the west. But overall nice video, although you kind of mixed up the pictures of the S-Bahn tunnel when talking about the U-Bahn, that's what caught my eye there as transit nerd^^ Interesting facts you've delivered there. I never knew how much the west paid to use the east tunnels. Another funfact about trains in Berlin and the east/west situation: The station Wollankstraße was located technically in the east, but was part of the West-S-Bahn network, so it was only accessible from the west.

[@beatricemiloiu9419]

They were lucky to run into such a nice driver!

[@daddybeagleaz907]

@@BruscoTheBoar when exactly was that escape? Sounds like something straight out of a spy novel, I'm glad they got a switched on driver from the West!

[@BruscoTheBoar]

@@daddybeagleaz907 march 8th 1980 ^^ And the U8 was a west-only line, so only drivers from the west were on that line

[@daddybeagleaz907]

@@BruscoTheBoar thanks much. I'm reading a book on the Stasi right now, and they were everywhere, both sides of the Wall. They were fortunate to that this driver was not among them, yes?

[@davidstrohl]

Great video. When I was stationed in West Berlin from 88 to 92, Allied military personnel were prohibited from any transit under East Berlin. I forgot where I was at on the system one night and ended up traveling through. I was grateful to emerge on the other side. I will never forget the bizarre surreal experience of the train slowing down to a crawl as it went through the ghost stations, it definitely added to my discomfort. After that I never forgot where I was on the U-Bahn again, even after the city was reunified I always knew exactly where I was at any given time.

[@rnascak]

What unit?

[@gabriellyonnet]

No it’s not great video ! Come back to reality.

[@pt020]

When I was 17 I made a trip to Germany to follow my familie roots, East Berlin was also a part of it, did not have a problem to cross to the east and it gave me a good lesson in life.. something I will never forget.

[@MindTheMap]

Is there any image or moment you experienced in East Berlin that truly struck you?

[@pt020]

@@MindTheMap There was, I came there with an Israeli Passport, it went from hand to hand and they did not know what to do with me, so they gave me a day visa until 6pm... they were very kind to me. Was there few hours, did not have the time to meet and learn the people, wanted to see some things so I did not wast time.

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

The West and East Germany period was quite fascinating. Not in West or East Berlin, but a place that was divided because it was right on the inner German border was the village of Mödlareuth. In 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars, the Tannbach stream that goes through the village became the border between the Kingdom of Bavaria and the principality of Reuss Junior Line. For the people living there, this border didn't mean anything. It wouldn't mean anything until the Cold War. When the constitutions of West Germany and the GDR were ratified in 1949, the village became divided by the border between two states, with the northern portion in the GDR's Thuringia and the southern portion in West Germany's Bavaria. When the East Germans strengthened the border, a wooden fence was built, then some complex border fences, and finally a wall. The wall separating the two halves of Mödlareuth was built in 1966. From that point on, the GDR part of the village was strictly monitored day and night, while on the West German side the wall became a kind of tourist attraction. The Americans nicknamed the place Little Berlin. In 1983, the then US Vice President George HW Bush visited and exclaimed, "Ich bin ein Mödlareuther". Four months before German reunification, the Mödlareuth Wall was knocked down using a bulldozer in June 1990. A portion has been retained as a memorial and is part of the museum in the village.

[@mortenfrosthansen84]

Reported your bizarre channel

[@robert.halpern]

Interesting! I respect West Berlin's priority to keep rail travel open despite the added costs.

[@MindTheMap]

Yes! Another reason the U-Bahn was popular and vital is that parts of the S-Bahn network were owned and operated by the East German Reichsbahn and therefore boycotted by West Berliners.

[@tomburke5311]

Thanks - I really enjoyed the video. I'm a 70-something years old Brit who grew up during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall, and the division of Berlin into two cities seemed as if it might be permanent; the best we could hope for, it seemed, was that the Cold War wouldn't ever become hot! It's extraordinary to realise the Wall has now been down for more years than it stood. And also that its fall ushered in one of the best periods in history - in those few years between the fall of the Wall and the fall of the Towers, lots of things seemed possible that no longer do. I finally got to visit Berlin in 2018, twice. A remarkable city, but one on which history hangs heavy, perhaps. But so different today than for long periods in the past.

[@eddihaskell]

New York City has "ghost stations" and uses the same term. The beautiful City Hall Station is a "ghost station". It was opened in 1904 and has not been used since 1945. It is on the IRT Lexington Avenue line. It is known for its incredible vaulted architecture and tile work. It is occasionally open for visits and events.

[@MindTheMap]

I heard you can stay on some train beyond it's finally destination and then see the City Hall Station through the windows because there is a return loop - is there any truth to that?

[@eddihaskell]

Yes -- -that is the old City Hall station. And it really is an architectural marvel. @@MindTheMap

[@blitzcarthey3888]

Yes, although you’re not supposed to, you can stay on the southbound 6 train after the last stop (Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall). It will take you through the original City Hall station (though not as slowly as I would like), but it’s loud because of the sharp track curvature. It really is quite quite beautiful and still well lit. This station was shutdown because by the early 1940s the passenger cars were too long for the extreme curve of the platform, even for the doors at the ends of the cars. There’s almost a meter gap between the middle door and the platform. Another station on the same line that has a slight track curve is at 14th Street/Union Square. There the platform has sections that will extend about 10 centimeters out to the train doors after the train has stopped before the doors are opened. Then it will retract after the doors close before the train departs the station.

[@missybarbour6885]

@@MindTheMap I did this last month when I visited New York! It's against the rules, but nobody stopped me XD

[@rlly_tired]

I did it too like 3 times, its reallly cool! Some random guy fell asleep and missed the stop so he was with us

[@hypercomms2001]

I remember traveling the UBahn in 1987.... yes it is was really weird... but Bahnhof Friedrickstrasse was insane!! You should do a video about it.... it was the craziest place I have ever been.........

[@阿華-j8f]

Your voice-overs are great, there's a certain clinical nature to them which is appreciated.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you :)

[@slypear]

Fascinating video - with all so many explanations! I lived in West Berlin in the 70s and only used the U-Bahn to get to and from high school (in the American sector). We weren't allowed to use the S-Bahn. Though those latter tracks were not far from our home, on occasion, we did get to enjoy flattening pfennig coins along those rails - under the watchful eyes of all those guard towers~ My god - suddenly seems like just yesterday!

[@nightw4tchman]

7:01 your voiceovers are absolutely fine. I enjoyed the video a lot, it was very informative.

[@alfonsrasmus4710]

I just discovered your channel and wow! The production quality on this is amazing! I don't understand how you only have 6000 subs. Wish you all the best and hope you keep uploading!

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you, that is high praise! I will keep uploading, hopefully a lot more often :)

[@sebastiennesp1978]

Wonderful! I first visited Berlin in the winter of 1979. Love at first sight! Ended up living just off Hermannplatz for several years. Best time of my life. (Even had my Honeymoon in Berlin, 1988. Neither of us can remember much..!)

[@MindTheMap]

Having your Honeymoon in 1988 West Berlin seems unusual but thrilling - maybe the memories come back one day... :)

[@lennyschwarz6683]

Great video! I'm sure I'm not alone with this opinion, but I find the history of East Germany really interesting and the layout of these videos are really engaging!

[@brontewcat]

I really enjoyed this. I experienced the ghost stations when I was visiting Berlin in October 1989. Although there were momentous events happening at the time, I did not expect events to happen so quickly. Gorbachev was visiting and his visit inspired the demonstrations that lead the Wall coming down, but I still remember the shock of seeing headlines Berlin Wall Down and not understanding what they meant. I was on a coach to Edinburgh when I saw the newspaper headlines as we passed through Barwick upon Tween. I had to wait until we arrived in Edinburgh to understand what had happened the night before.

[@MrMangoman69]

I had a wonderful visit to Berlin in September. What a great city. I found the U-Bahn fascinating. Thanks for your amazing video and don't change a thing about your voice-overs. Your accent is perfect for this stuff!!

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you for your kind words, happy to hear you had a great time in Berlin!

[@stephenspencer1215]

Fascinating video. I rode those lines a few times when the city was divided. The video brought back memories.

[@lefritte1055]

Thank you for the great video my grandma escaped just 3 years prior with the train ❤

[@ovaaaaaL]

First time I've ever heard about the situation of the U-Bahn during the Cold war. It's unfortunate that the 2 guys weren't able to accomplish their plans, but that's fine now since at least their children and grandchildren won't need to endure such risky activities. Such an interesting insight, thanks! Also, really love your German accent!

[@notmo.]

They were lucky that they weren't shot on the spot and "just" got sentenced to a few years in prison.

[@gabriellyonnet]

Lucy ahahah nice joke !

[@loneprimate]

7:02 It would be hard to stop listening to you! You have such a wonderfully rich accent that's entirely clear when you're speaking English and just perfect when you code switch to a German word. :) I came here after watching the video about Allied transit on the Autobahn in East Germany. I remember how amazing it was when the Berlin Wall fell. It just happened so suddenly, and so effortlessly. It made you wonder why it simply hadn't been so easy all along. It was glorious and beautiful and exciting to watch, even from way over here in Canada. A genuine dream come true. Thank you for this video about the darker days before that that I can still remember.

[@redfox222]

There was a successful Escape through the tunnels.....at 08.03.1980. It was a man with his familiy, who worked for East German Transportation BVB. Das hat schon jemand mal erfolgreich geschafft. Über Klostertunnel und Waisentunnel. Krasse Storie, aber wahr!

[@MindTheMap]

They stopped a U8 train that took them to safety - it's a wild story but I didn't find a good way to put in in the video!

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Another example of a ghost station is the Old South Ferry loops station in NYC. It has an inner and an outer platform, 1 trains of the IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line stopped on the outer loop platform, while 5 trains of the IRT Lexington Avenue Line used the inner loop platform. The outer loop first opened in 1905 while the inner loop opened in 1918. The inner loop platform closed in 1977 though 5 trains that terminate at Bowling Green during off-peak hours still use it. The outer loop platform accommodated the first five cars of a 10-car train, but the rear five cars could not load or unload. Additionally, unlike most terminal stations in the system, there were neither layup tracks nor an additional track to store terminating trains. This meant that trains could not dwell at the station for longer for 90 seconds (including the 5 to 10 seconds each that it took to extend and retract the gap fillers). This on top of its tight curve design is why it was closed and replaced, which was proposed after 9/11 damaged the line. The station and line closed in 2001, reopened in 2002, closed in 2009 for the new island-platform station, but said station closed in 2012 after it was damaged by Hurricane Sandy. When this happened, they decided to reopen the Old South Ferry station again, which lasted until 2017 when the new station reopened.

[@abwasserpumpe]

Yay new video! Great video as always!

[@MindTheMap]

Thanks, you are super early!

[@matt_the_trucker]

@7:06 ... Your voice is perfectly fine 😎 and thanks for this video .. I was aware of many of the ways ppl escaped or tried to escape the DDR back then ... But for some reason I never gave the U-Bahn a single thought .. so thank you for the video 😎

[@strayofff]

Your voiceovers are wunderbar, thank you

[@killickr]

I used to regularly travel on these lines in the early 70's. At that time, the Geisterbahnhoefe had guards on the platforms, although they later disappeared, replaced with barriers, cameras etc. Who carried out maintenance work on the tracks/signalling on the tracks under the GDR?

[@MindTheMap]

The maintenance work was done by the East Berlin transit authority BVB and paid for by the West Berlin transit authority BVG.

[@SusScrofaBob]

If I remember correctly there even was a successful Republikflucht by a worker who had to replace tracks or bolts literally a meter away from the borderline. Although he was monitored by multiple GDR border soldiers he was able to make the daring dash to West Berlin because the West German Police had deployed two police man next to the borderline, too. So the GDR soldiers were unable to risk shooting or catching the worker behind the border.

[@caveyak]

This is an excellent video. Next time I’m in Berlin, I’ll tour the ghost stations.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you, happy exploring!

[@deedikjepijn]

Absolutely loved the video, thanks for making it. Your first sub on patreon!

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you for your ongoing support & valuable feedback! You being my first Patreon supporter is a big moment for me :)

[@pigoff123]

I went shopping in East berlin in 86. I noticed that only tourists jay walked. When we gave a few East German DM to the lady that worked in the bathroom and she cried. We only gave a few dollars worth to her and she was happy cause she could buy some gifts for her family. It was an amazing trip.

[@simoncee9011]

Thank you, I visited Berlin 20 years ago and would love to go back. Great video.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you!

[@SisterSunny]

Wow, that was absolutely AMAZING! loved the video

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you!

[@hansyboi]

7:00 Didn't even think twice about the voiceover; your accent took this already captivating video and made it that much more immersive!!! Fits right in!

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you :)

[@silverismoney]

Great content. Of all the ways to cross from East to West I hadn't considered the U-Bahn. Subscribed!

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you, welcome to our community!

[@charlesbaran1106]

Interesting story! I have to tell my coworker about this video, as he will be spending two months in Berlin next year. He is only 30 years old, born after German reunification.

[@calsavestheworld]

Your accent is amazing and I hope you never lose it.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you!

[@mickandmj]

DO NOT APOLOGISE for your voice. NO issues at all. Your commentary is brilliant, fascinating and compelling.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you for saying that!

[@gabriellyonnet]

NOOOOOO

[@mojeminifilmy1973]

Oh my god how have I never thought of that? That's an amazing story, even if they got caught. Keep up the good work man!

[@rnascak]

As a retired USAF veteran stationed in Marienfelde from 1983 - 1990, your voice does NOT need work! You sound like every other Berliner with whom I've spoken. Great job!

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you so much sir :) May I ask what you were doing in Marienfelde (unless it is classified information of course...)? Kind regards - Lukas!

[@rnascak]

@MindTheMap The US Army had the Teufelsberg listening post. The US Air Force had its own at Marienfelde on Diedersdorfer Weg. I maintained the radio equipment. The site was highly classified then. Today, not so much.

[@MindTheMap]

@@rnascak Thank you for taking the time to reply! Must have been an incredibly exiting time working on a highly classified project in Cold War Berlin...

[@rnascak]

@@MindTheMap Sometimes one doesn't find out just how exciting it was until after one leaves. Shortly after returning stateside, I read a security briefing and discovered a Stasi spy had been working down the hall at Marienfelde in 1983. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2m2hoiIhdqmgJY

[@duckfan7717]

Thanks for the video! This was really interesting and fun.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you, glad to hear that you liked it!

[@EElgar1857]

Sehr interessant! (Hope I spelled that correctly.) 😆

[@MindTheMap]

Danke! You spelled that flawlessly!

[@cyrinyx]

has to be the most underrated channel out here

[@sarahmckinney6159]

What an excellent video! Thank you for making it. You're narration is great honestly.

[@wavejumpinseadoo]

Thank you for this! I don’t usually comment but your video was felt like it was made by a much larger channel!

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you - that's a big compliment!

[@pompeymeowth6379]

Great job Lukas, both your speaking voice and English are amazing.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you for your kind comment, I truly appreciate it!

[@marcoinsalada8500]

Im watching this back home jettlagged, landed from Berlin and watch this is amazing 🤩 see you soon Berlin 🐻 ❤

[@akritsovas]

Amazing video! Keep going man :)

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you, I will keep at it :)

[@mypradasatthecleanerss]

What an excellent video. Thank you from London

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you, happy to hear you liked the video!

[@Trainhead]

Awesome video! Very good editing and voiceovers!

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you!

[@adamski-l5w]

Good video mate. Don’t let anyone bother you about your English or your pronunciation it’s all good. I was born on the unfortunate side of the iron curtain. But I was lucky Mom and Dad got us to the West when my sister and I were young. Greetings from 🇦🇺

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you, happy to hear you got out!

[@mosmarb]

Interesting video, I always liked the Geisterbahnhöfe exhibit at the Nordbahnhof.

[@MarkJohnson-zy4fd]

I have used the Nordbahnhof station many times. It definitely feels and looks different.

[@humannotanalien8675]

Your voiceover and video is amazing! goodjob!

[@blotski]

What a great video. Just discovered your channel. And your voice overs are just fine!!

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you so much!

[@RUOKH]

A most important and historically accurate record of the trans-West/East/West Berlin U-Bahn. This video must be preserved and used for future student to understand the Berlin situation between 1961 & 1989. Thank you for you superlative commentary.

[@IvanColledge]

Good video. In "The East's Big Payday" your referred to the BforB and I have searched to find what it means but haven't had any luck. Thanks.

[@trekkie604]

How did the west German transit authority do maintenance on the tracks in the eastern sector or was that responsibility paid for and done by the east?

[@MindTheMap]

It was done by the the East Berlin transit authority "BVB" and payed for mightily be the West Berlin transit authority - I talk a bit about it at 6:08

[@gmore70]

You're voice overs are great! Don't change a thing

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you Gordon!

[@martijnkeisers5900]

25 meters away from freedom.. It must have been devastating 😢

[@mrgobrien]

in ww2 several escaped allied pows made it to bridges or land checkpoints bordering neutral switzerland but were stopped when their forged papers were checked properly by the german guards (that scene with steve mcqueen in the great escape movie is more or less true but the real pow wasn't on a motorbike) - others decided to avoid the official crossing points and just walked across fields or forests etc into switzerland instead - the james garner scene where the border has mountains around it is false.

[@gabriellyonnet]

Why you don’t go there fools ?

[@martijnkeisers5900]

@@gabriellyonnet English please.

[@Kaiser7068]

7:10 your voice is good. Well I’m German too and hearing someone with the accent as well is sort of comforting, as I have it too. Anyways very good video. Great work.

[@MindTheMap]

That's nice to hear, Dankeschön!

[@Kaiser7068]

@@MindTheMap Bitte sehr Kumpel

[@timor64]

I really enjoyed this video. I used to ride these lines all the time. When you got to Reinickendorfer Straße or Kochstraße there was always an announcemen like this: "Kochstraße - letzte Bahnhof in Berlin-West! letzte Bahnhof in Berlin-West!" One question: 07:23 "the closed down U-bahn station Schmidtstraße" - which one is that? Did you mean Heinrich-Heine-straße? Also - there were 2 successful escapes via the U-Bahn. In both cases families in tunnels between stations held up a red lamp to stop the train, and then climbed abord. The got to the tracks via street access covers, not via stations

[@MindTheMap]

I took the Schmidtstraße station name from an original source and it is also mentioned like that in the official exhibition at Nordbahnhof that talks about this exact escape attempt. I was wondering the same, it might be the name of a station that no longer exists or the old name of the street where they entered - it confused me as well when I wrote the script.

[@GameBites27]

I watched this then I watched every other video on this channel also I like to see the longer video format I think it fits better then the small bites of information

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you - it is hard to find stories or topics like this were you can talk without fluff for about 10 minutes but I definitely prefer these over 3 minute explainers.

[@simpleH.]

Will you greet me asap you reach 1M? I‘m sure you will reach that soon,the quality is so good that has to happen.

[@franc9111]

There are now guided tours for tourists showing you the tunnels and various exits that were used to escape East Berlin. Right at the very beginning, when Berlin was divided, the railway staff still had keys to open doors where they could get out to the West and so they took their families with them. But of course once that had happened the Stasi quickly closed off all of the exits. Before the War, escape tunnels linked to the U-bahn stations were already in place and were still in existence after the War. You can visit them today.

[@MindTheMap]

I would love to take such a tour!

[@franc9111]

@@MindTheMap If you are in Berlin, the Association is called Berliner Unterwelten E. V. (they have their own website) and they organise various guided tours. We've gone on a couple of them - for example, we found 'Tour M - Under the Berlin Wall' very interesting but also sad. Getting to Berlin during the Cold War years was quite complicated (we live in France) so we never managed it, but we did spend some time in Czechoslovakia when it was still communist. Of course the police followed us, but they were quite discreet and left us alone. I also recommend the Espionage Museum in Berlin.

[@MindTheMap]

@franc9111 Merci I took a screenshot & will try to take the Tour M. That tour will probably be the closest I will ever come to understanding what it feels like to cross the iron curtain :)

[@arzeilabou9erda74]

Please don’t excuse yourself for the voiceover, it is amazingly beautiful to listen to and I am happy that you are speaking full confidence with your sexy German accent. Don’t change that, it’s charming and very understandable.

[@TheFadzreeq]

Nothing better then a German narrating about German events in English, in the natural German accent. Keep it up, and actually that's the charm of your videos, is your German-accent narration, with absolute native German pronunciation!

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you, that accent has to be good for something after all :)

[@gabriellyonnet]

Nothing better than reality I disliked because this isn’t the case

[@yetzt]

Another good story is that about the escape through the Waisentunnel connection between Jannowitzbrücke and Alexanderplatz.

[@davidsmith8376]

Great video and your voiceover is great. Keep posting.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you, I will!

[@MSportsEngineering]

Thanks for the video. I really enjoyed the story and history.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you!

[@bassett_green]

I had never heard of this, thanks for sharing!

[@DatsWhatXiSaid]

This could be a sequel to the game 'Papers, Please' in which East and West Grestin are based on divided Berlin. In the game you work as a border checkpoint attendant, but in the explosive sequel, you have to escape East Grestin.

[@MindTheMap]

I love that game! The "Palace of Tears" at Friedrichstraße would be a perfect setting for a historically accurate version of the game - so many true and truly insane stories to tell!

[@alastairfulbrook1285]

Don't worry about your strong accent - it was perfectly understandable from a British English speaker's perspective, and thank you for making this very interesting video. I've read a lot about East Germany and the Stasi, but there's something additional in a quality documentary video that you cannot get from just text.

[@qwertykeyboard8563]

I actually like your voice over man, keep it up

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you so much!

[@jensschroder8214]

My grandfather drove with his family from East to West Berlin the day before the Wall was closed. It was because of the reprisals he experienced in the East. He couldn't have imagined that the way back would be cut off.

[@MindTheMap]

Seems like he had an intuition (or got super lucky)...

[@craterpole]

Really informative video, thanks so much :)

[@MindTheMap]

You are most welcome, happy to hear you liked it :)

[@Robslondon]

Excellent video.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you Rob!

[@smi2le4ever]

Your voice is great man!

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you :)

[@TheSleepSteward]

Really well done dude but there is room for improvement! Maybe try to expand on things such as why there was an East and West in the first place and what it meant to live in either one. And why someone would want to escape the Eastern block . On top of that, it felt like we were bouncing all over the place from topic to topic which made it a bit overwhelming but still entertaining. And maybe slow things down just a little bit! But this is an amazing start and you have so much potential man! Remember us when you're super big ;)

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you - your comment is super helpful to me! My channel is very much a work in progress - I like the idea of improving 1% per video and there sure is a lot to improve! I will remember you regardless of being a super big or super small channel :)

[@TheSleepSteward]

@@MindTheMapOh shut up dude, you are so going to make it big. It’s just a matter of time. Might be a while until people notice you but they will. Just keep improving and pumping out videos whenever you can and you’ll gather people along the way.

[@robertaries2974]

Really fascinating

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you Robert!

[@dirkhardy3489]

The Ghost stations were really creepy and the feelings too. I often thought about the east german people which lived some meters above. That was grazy.

[@MindTheMap]

I never thought about it like this but that truly is an eerie perspective.

[@PadisherCreel]

Echt interessant. Super gemacht

[@MindTheMap]

Danke!

[@thomaswoge5075]

There is, nor was a station called Schmidtstraße. It was Heinrich-Heine-Str. Station with closed exit to Schmidtstr. From 1928-1960 this station was called Neander Str. Station.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you for the clarification, it has been a while but this confused me while making the video. I think the exhibition at Nordbahnhof specifically mentions Schmidtstraße which is why I stuck with the name, even though I did not find any maps or documents about a station named Schmidtstraße during research!

[@rododonnell6856]

I found your German accented English excellent and much easier to listen to than some of the dreadful American accents we are forced to listen to.

[@paulstubbs7678]

7:05 Your voice overs are fine, way better that the AI generated junk used by many.

[@MindTheMap]

Thank you so much - I think AI voice overs would be a lot easier to make and easier to understand but the videos would feel soulless.

[@paulstubbs7678]

@@MindTheMap Exactly. It's a pity YpuTube does not support multiple sound channels, that way you could offer both and let the viewers choose.

[@jimmyryan5880]

The animation quality is insane

[@EdMcF1]

I visited Berlin in August 1990 after the fall of the Wall but before Unification. I remember passing through a Ghost Station and seeing workmen starting the process of re-opening the station.

[@gabriellyonnet]

Why they done this when it was already opened they wasted hours of work.

[@kbst8411]

Imagine there would be a city called West Pyongyang with South Korean people living in a city like Seoul in the middle of North Korea. That Berlin division thing was crazy as hell.

[@jeweetzlfpappi]

Nah your voiceovers are fine dude, cool video!