Stralauer Tor (Berlin U-Bahn)

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The station at the time of its opening, with the River Spree visible behind it

The location of the station today, with the Oberbaumbrücke on the right

Stralauer Tor was a Berlin U-Bahn station on the eastern bank of the River Spree between Warschauer Straße and Schlesisches Tor stations on today's U1. Built on the eastern part of the Oberbaumbrücke viaduct, it was completely destroyed in World War II, and was not rebuilt. It is the only U-Bahn station to be abandoned after it had been in service.

The station opened as the initial terminus of the first U-Bahn line on February 15, 1902, under the then-current spelling Stralauer Thor; Warschauer Straße (then known as "Warschauer Brücke"), the present terminus, opened six months later, on August 17, 1902. Stralauer Tor was renamed Osthafen in 1924.

The station closed permanently on March 10, 1945 due to severe bombing damage. Some thought was given to rebuilding the station after the war, and it appears on a 1946 Berlin map, renamed as Besarinstraße, but no work was undertaken. This was due to the short distance to Warschauer Straße station and the destruction of many buildings around Stralauer Tor; but most importantly because the border between the boroughs of Friedrichshain, where Stralauer Tor was situated, and Kreuzberg across the river, became the border between the Soviet and American sectors of occupation, and thus East and West Berlin.

With the construction of the Berlin Wall along this frontier in 1961, the section across the bridge into East Berlin was abandoned, and only the part of the line in West Berlin stayed open, terminating at Schlesisches Tor. Following German reunification, the remainder of the line reopened in 1995, but Stralauer Tor was not reconstructed. Today, only struts on the viaduct remain to indicate its location.

[edit] External link

• U-Bahn history