Berlin Potsdamer Bahnhof - World War 2 and Its Aftermath

World War 2 and Its Aftermath

The fate of the Potsdamer 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 Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler (1889–1945), to transform Berlin into the Welthauptstadt (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 Nordbahnhof (North Station) and Südbahnhof (South Station), located at Wedding and Südkreuz. The intended fate of the Potsdamer Bahnhof has not been documented. In the event things took a different course.

During World War II the terminus, like most of Berlin, was devastated by British and American bombs and Soviet artillery shells. Despite some rubble clearance and emergency repairs, damage to rail infrastructure further out was so great that the mainline terminus never saw another train, it and the Ringbahnhof closing on 3 August 1944. Many sections of the U-Bahn and S-Bahn were also closed during the war due to enemy action, and the sections through Potsdamer Platz were 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. On May 2, the Tunnel was flooded as a consequence of the decision of the remaining Nazi leaders to blow up the section of the North-South Tunnel beneath the nearby Landwehrkanal as a desperate measure to slow the Soviet advance. Because of this incident, the North-South Link was unable to be used until 1947 (see below).

Shortly after war's end the Ringbahnhof got a reprieve of sorts, temporarily reopening on 6 August 1945 while the U-Bahn and S-Bahn received massive repairs (millions of gallons of water had to be pumped out for starters). The Ringbahnhof closed for good on 27 July 1946 after some fragmentary train workings had resumed along the U-Bahn and North-South Link on 2 June. 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. Above ground the remains of the terminus were cleared away in stages between 1957 and 1960 after a vague attempt at restoration was aborted. Besides the Dresdner and Hamburger Bahnhöfe (which were not operating by the time of WWII) all of Berlin’s other rail termini suffered a similar fate, leaving a network that remained fragmented and inconvenient for decades, exacerbated by the Division of Berlin and the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 (see below).