Postbahnhof at the Ostbahnhof

Departure packing chamber (left) and arrival packing chamber (right)

The Postbahnhof at Ostbahnhof in the Berlin district of Friedrichshain was an important hub for rail mail traffic in Prussia and eastern Germany from 1907 until after the end of the Second World War .

Structural system

The system consisted of a post office building located directly on Fruchtstrasse (since 1971: Strasse der Pariser Kommune ) and near the former Silesian train station and the halls of the 'departure packing chamber' and ' Arrival packing chamber ', also referred to as the' packing hall 'or' unpacking hall '. They were commissioned in 1904 by the Berlin Oberpostdirektion and planned by the architects Wilhelm and Walter Tuckermann.

Detail from the track plan of the Silesian Railway Station, 1908

Both halls, each with a floor space of around 1500 square meters, have a ground level area for sorting and packaging mail and a level above with what used to be two access tracks for the mail cars for loading and unloading them.

Supporting elements are inside massive steel girder constructions, execution of the brick facade is a style of Mark Brandenburg brick Gothic called. The packing hall is characterized by skylights and tall windows.

Rail operations

Loading of mail wagons in the post station, 1959

The pairs of tracks on the upper levels led through large gates on the eastern side over a bridge and on inclined ramps down to the level of the remaining station tracks.

From 1964 to around 1980, two small, light electric locomotives of the EL 4 series with the vehicle numbers 10046 and 10047 were available to move the mail cars . Both locomotives were operated with a voltage of around 1000 volts .

From February 6, 1917, trains on the Berlin Post Tram , consisting of a multiple unit and three sidecars, also carried parcel post between the post stations at Schlesisches Bahnhof and on Luckenwalder Strasse .

Current status

Departure packing chamber

The post office building directly on Fruchtstrasse has not existed since the 1990s, the two large, largely undamaged halls were still in use at the time of the German division. Post operations were only given up here with the shift in mail traffic from rail to air and onto the road.

Due to its proximity to the former border strip and the efforts of the city of Berlin to design this historic area on the border between Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg , the Postbahnhof escaped decay.

The entire system of post office O 17 is now a listed building . In addition, the arrival packing chamber is designated as a single monument . Today there are open-plan offices on the floors of the northern building. a. by the television broadcaster joiz Germany , the travel search engine KAYAK and Zalando Content Creation .

The arrival packing chamber building is used commercially for conferences and events (as of 2010).