Elsenstrasse (Berlin-Alt-Treptow)
 Elsenstrasse
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
 |
|
| Elsenstrasse at the corner of Kiefholzstrasse in the direction of An den Treptowers | |
| Basic data | |
| place | Berlin |
| District |
Alt-Treptow , Neukölln |
| Created | November 21, 1895 |
| Hist. Names |
Elsen-Allee (1842–1895) |
| Connecting roads |
On the Treptowers (northeast) , Kiehlufer (southwest) |
| Cross streets |
Puschkinallee , Beermannstrasse , Kiefholzstrasse , Karl-Kunger-Strasse , Harzer Strasse , Hüttenroder Weg |
| Buildings | Vietnamese Embassy , Barracks Area Am Treptower Park |
| use | |
| User groups | Pedestrian traffic , bicycle traffic , car traffic , public transport |
| Technical specifications | |
| Street length | 1440 meters |
The Elsenstraße is located in the Berlin districts of Alt-Treptow and Neukölln . It begins at the Treptowers and Martin-Hoffmann-Strasse and ends at the Kiehlufer on the Neukölln shipping canal . It is named after the Elsen , another name for alders . The course of the house numbers is arranged according to the principle of horseshoe numbering . The house numbers 42–84 are in Neukölln, while house numbers 1–41 and 86–115 are in Alt-Treptow.
history
Until the middle of the 19th century, today's streets were still outside the Berlin city limits. Behind the Schlesisches Tor there was a mixed forest of the Cöllnische Heide , the Schlesische Busch . A parade ground is marked on old maps south of this area, which is used as coppice . The area south of this square was planted with Elsen in order to use it as a break forest, the Elsen bush . The forest was opened up with Elsen-Allee , which was renamed together with road no. 42 in 1895 to today's name Elsenstraße. However, in 1902 the street still led from the Treptow train station to Kaiser-Friedrich-Straße (today's Sonnenallee ), three years later to the Köllnischer Ufer in Neukölln. From 1913 to 1973 a tram drove through Elsenstrasse. It was shut down in sections between 1952, 1961 and 1973.
At the time of the Second World War , the Red Army soldier Trifon Andrejewitsch Lukjanowitsch saved the life of a German girl at the intersection of Elsenstrasse and the Treptower Park S-Bahn station . It had got into the fighting and sat crying next to its dead mother. Lukyanovich was seriously injured and later died. The story was narrated by the Soviet writer Boris Nikolayevich Polewoi . In this context, it is occasionally claimed that this incident served as a template for the statue in the Soviet memorial in Treptower Park . When asked about this, the sculptor of the work, Yevgeny Viktorovich Wutschetitsch , emphasized that he “had not thought of a specific event when he designed the figure.” With the construction of the wall , Elsenstraße was interrupted in 1961, the southern part was in Neukölln and thus in West Berlin and the northern part in East Berlin . However, after August 13, 1961, one of the 13 remaining crossings was still in Elsenstrasse. Ten days later this crossing point was also closed. Remains of the foundations of the hinterland wall are visible north of the junction to Heidelberger Strasse in the direction of the park.
Attempts to escape
From the time of the German division two successful escape attempts are documented: the construction of a tunnel in a West Berlin pub and the breakthrough with a NVA - infantry fighting vehicle .
Tunnel construction
In May 1962, in the cellar of the Heidelberger Krug pub on the corner of Elsenstrasse and Heidelberger Strasse, several people dug a tunnel heading east under the direction of the former East Berlin cyclist Harry Seidel . Their destination was the basement of an uninvolved East Berlin photographer. The excavated material was removed via the backyards of the pub basement. According to tradition, on June 10 and 11, 1962, more than 50 people came to the West via this route. The Bild newspaper reported - on the anniversary of the construction of the wall - about the successful escape through the tunnel, which was given the catchy name Whitsun Tunnel because it was Whitsun . Another tunnel construction in the direction of Elsenstrasse 86 failed. Today a plaque commemorates the buildings.
Breakthrough with an armored personnel carrier
On April 17, 1963, the NVA civilian employee Wolfgang Engels stole an armored personnel carrier on the barracks grounds in Magerviehhof Friedrichsfelde . He drove the vehicle undetected to Elsenstrasse. On the way he asked passers-by if they wanted to escape with him, but they said no. Then he drove the armored personnel carrier directly against the wall. Parts of the structure gave way, but the tank got stuck in the opening. The fugitive tried to overcome the remaining barriers when border guards opened fire. Engels and a West Berlin policeman were hit; but he managed to escape to a pub in West Berlin.
Buildings and monuments
- In building number 1 there is the Treptow medical center with art on the building , next to it the Vietnamese embassy in a listed building by Carl Kneifel from the years 1889 and 1990. The entire area Elsenstrasse 1-4 with Puschkinallee, Eichenstrasse and Hoffmannstrasse forms an earlier villa ensemble and stands under monument conservation.
- The embassy of Vietnam is located at Elsenstrasse 3 .
- Elsenstraße 5-8 was the address of a closing time home , the 1882/1883 by the architect Bernhard Felisch as a retirement home of Friedrich-Wilhelm-Viktoris Foundation had been established. Of the original two interconnected country houses, one was replaced by a new building in the 1960s. The other was a monument during the GDR era. After 1990, service providers moved into the new building, including a cosmetics institute.
- Barracks grounds at Am Treptower Park , Elsenstrasse 9–22, laid out in 1908 for the Telegraph Battalion No. 1 of the Prussian Army : After the Second World War , the Red Army monitored the construction of the Soviet Memorial in Treptower Park from here . Since 1999, the building complex has been used by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the Joint Counter-Terrorism Center of the BKA and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution .
- Embankment and bridge of the Berlin – Görlitz railway from 1865: The tracks on the line to Görlitz opened by the Berlin-Görlitzer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft in 1866/1867 were raised in 1906 to avoid crossings with road traffic.
- Further south is the building of the former Ehrich & Graetz lamp factory, completed in 1899 . Graetz began manufacturing radios in 1925 and moved its headquarters to Altena in Westphalia after the Second World War . In GDR times, the buildings of the RFT owned VEB Fernmeldewerk, Berlin Treptow (Funkwerk Treptow). The brick buildings were renovated after 1990 and have been used by the Siemens Group ever since .
- In the area of Elsenstrasse 29 / 29a, 31/32 and Karl-Kunger-Strasse 37-41 there are residential wings that were built in 1927/1928 for the Bau- und Spargenossenschaft Berlin GmbH . They are based on designs by Walter Borchard and have been inserted into the existing older living quarters. The five-storey buildings were also listed monuments until 1990.
- The trade unionist, politician ( SPD , USPD ) and resistance fighter Franz Künstler lived in house number 52 from 1924 to 1933 . A Berlin plaque commemorates him .
- Between the above-mentioned bridge and Puschkinallee there was a series of connected low-rise buildings until around the year 2000. These were used intensively by several small shops after the wall came down. However, the wing was demolished in connection with the construction of the Park Center Treptow .
Web links
- Elsenstrasse. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near Kaupert )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Map of the region in the 19th century ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Website of the Berlin city map archive, accessed on July 5, 2013.
- ^ Wolfgang Kramer, Siegfried Münzinger: Southern Berlin suburban railway . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . Issue 7, 1963, pp. 69-72 .
- ↑ German Resistance Memorial Center (Ed.): Resistance 1933–1945. Volume 9: Resistance in Köpenick and Treptow. Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-92082-03-8 , p. 288.
- ↑ Kulturbund Treptow (ed.): Families can make coffee here: Treptow in the course of history . 1st edition. be.bra, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-930863-14-6 , pp. 184 .
- ↑ Border crossings between East and West Berlin , website of the Berlin Wall Memorial, accessed on July 2, 2013.
- ^ Axel Klausmeier, Leo Schmidt: Wall remains - Wall traces. 2nd Edition. Westkreuz-Verlag, Berlin / Bonn 2005, ISBN 3-929592-50-9 , p. 286.
- ^ Escape helper drama: The riddle of the unknown Stasi helper. At: Spiegel Online , accessed July 1, 2013.
- ↑ a b Peter Thieme: Berliner Fluchten . (PDF; 4.6 MB) on berlin.de via Archive.org; Retrieved July 1, 2013.
- ↑ Tunnel Heidelberger Straße 28 on tunnelfluchten.de; Retrieved July 2, 2013.
- ↑ Interview by Hans-Hermann Hertle with Engels: I called: “Don't close!” - but he shot anyway. On Chronik-der-Mauer.de; Retrieved July 1, 2013.
- ↑ border breach in the tank homegrown . one day ; Retrieved July 1, 2013.
- ↑ Entry in the Berlin State Monument List
- ↑ Architectural monuments villas Elsenstrasse 1–4
- ^ A b Institute for Monument Preservation (Ed.): The architectural and art monuments of the GDR. Capital Berlin-II . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1984, p. 374 ff .
- ↑ Entry in the Berlin State Monument List
Coordinates: 52 ° 29 '17.3 " N , 13 ° 27' 10.5" E