Interzonal traffic

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Between 1945 and 1973, the term interzonal traffic referred to the cross-border traffic between the four different occupation zones in Germany , which were established in 1945 by the victorious powers of the Second World War .

After the military occupation of Germany in May 1945 , civilians were initially only allowed to leave their place of residence and its immediate vicinity with a permit issued by the occupying power . In June 1945 bus and train traffic within the respective occupation zones was resumed on many routes. However, public train traffic between the occupation zones remained interrupted. Nevertheless, there were numerous travelers who crossed the largely uncontrolled borders between the occupation zones on foot, by bicycle or by hitchhiking.

On June 30, 1946, the border between the Soviet zone of occupation and the western zones of occupation (the American , British and French zones ) was closed. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) had previously asked the Allied Control Council to close the demarcation line to the western zones. The Allied Control Council introduced a special ID , the interzone passport . This had to be requested by the citizens if they wanted to travel in occupied Germany.

The pass was valid for 30 days and enabled travel within Germany across the zone borders. All travel restrictions between the British and American occupation zones were lifted on July 23, 1946 (preparation of the bizone ). In August 1948, the French zone joined the Bizone ( Trizone ). On July 13, 1948, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) issued an order according to which travelers between the western occupation zones and the Soviet occupation zone required a residence permit from the Soviet occupation authorities in addition to the interzone pass.

Since November 14, 1953, the Federal Republic of Germany waived border controls in interzonal traffic after consultation with the Western Allies . On November 25, 1953, the interzone passport was abolished because the GDR government also decided not to issue interzone passports. GDR residents now had to apply for exit permits if they wanted to cross the inner German border . About 4% of the GDR citizens who had traveled to the West with permission never came back.

After the Berlin Wall was built, it became even more difficult to get an exit permit. Except for business trips, only pensioners were allowed to travel a limited number of days in the West for family matters.

Rail transport

On August 5, 1945, the first freight train left the Ruhr area for Berlin . However, through passenger traffic was not started until May 1946. The first (and until 1949 only) inter- zone express train , which was reserved exclusively for foreign travelers, ran between Berlin and Osnabrück .

Rail traffic between Berlin and the western zones was interrupted from April 23, 1948 to May 12, 1949 due to alleged construction work on Soviet instructions. Since the only pair of express trains in interzone traffic (FD 111/112) between Cologne and Berlin was constantly overloaded, five additional pairs of express trains were offered across the inner-German border from September 10, 1949:

Road traffic

On August 25, 1947, an inter- zone bus connection was set up by Haru between Berlin and Hanover . Bus traffic was also repeatedly interrupted by political crises. For example, the Erfurt transport company had to stop inter-zone traffic with buses in 1953, which was also used to procure replacement parts.

Interzone bus of auto power (1966)

In West Berlin , the operators of the inter- zone bus connections merged to form the Berlin Linien Bus Verbund. Initially 12 destinations were approached and the network was later significantly expanded.

Air traffic

There was no regular air traffic between the western and the Soviet occupation zone.