Schlesisches Tor (Berlin U-Bahn)
Encyclopedia
Berlin U-Bahn
The Berlin is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, and is a major part of the public transport system of that city. Opened in 1902, the serves 173 stations spread across ten lines, with a total track length of , about 80% of which is underground...
station on the line.
Overview
It is located in eastern KreuzbergKreuzberg
Kreuzberg, a part of the combined Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte since 2001, is one of the best-known areas of Berlin...
, near Oberbaumbrücke
Oberbaumbrücke
The Oberbaum Bridge is a double-deck bridge crossing Berlin's River Spree, considered one of the city landmarks. It links Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg, former boroughs that were divided by the Berlin Wall, and has become an important symbol of Berlin’s unity....
, in the Bohemian
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
quarter commonly known as SO36
SO36
The SO36 club, is a music club on Oranienstrasse near Heinrichplatz in the district of Kreuzberg in Berlin, Germany.It takes its name from the historic postcode of that area SO36, in which the SO stands for Südost...
(named after its former postal code). The station is named after one of the former city gates of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
built in the early 18th century; the road that ran through it led southeastward to the province of Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
.
The exceptionally richly designed station opened on February 18, 1902, on the first Berlin U-Bahn line erected by the Siemens & Halske
Siemens & Halske
Siemens & Halske AG was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens AG.It was founded on 12 October 1847 as Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske by Ernst Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske...
company (the Stammstrecke). During the division of Berlin
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
after 13 August 1961, the station was the eastern terminus of the U1, as the final station, Warschauer Straße, was in East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
. The link was reopened in 1995. An intermediate station at the Spree
Spree
The Spree is a river that flows through the Saxony, Brandenburg and Berlin states of Germany, and in the Ústí nad Labem region of the Czech Republic...
river, Stralauer Tor
Stralauer Tor (Berlin U-Bahn)
Stralauer Tor was a Berlin U-Bahn station in Berlin-Friedrichshain. As an elevated station built into the north-eastern part of the Oberbaumbrücke viaduct, it operated between Warschauer Straße and Schlesisches Tor stations on today's U1...
, had been destroyed in 1945 and never reopened.
Schlesisches Tor was an atmospheric location in the 1966 espionage film The Quiller Memorandum
The Quiller Memorandum
The Quiller Memorandum is a film adaptation of the 1965 spy novel The Berlin Memorandum, by Trevor Dudley-Smith under the name "Adam Hall", screenplay by Harold Pinter, directed by Michael Anderson, featuring George Segal, Max von Sydow, Senta Berger and Alec Guinness. The film was shot on...
starring George Segal and Alec Guinness.