S-Bahn boycott

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The S-Bahn boycott in West Berlin in 1961 was a protest against the construction of the Berlin Wall , which the then governing mayor Willy Brandt and the DGB called for. The German Reichsbahn then operate the railway in West Berlin. The strike was intended to reduce the GDR's DM income .

background

After the Second World War , the Allies handed over responsibility for the operation of the railroad (long-distance, freight and S-Bahn traffic) in the Berlin sectors of the Western Allies to the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR). With the advancing division of Germany, this situation became less and less acceptable for West Berlin. The GDR took in foreign currency in this way , since the tickets in West Berlin had to be paid for in DM , while many costs were only incurred in GDR marks . In addition, the GDR retained undesirable influence on the West Berlin infrastructure. B. impede road construction projects (such as the continuation of the city motorway on Sachsendamm ) for years.

As early as 1951, the German Trade Union Federation (DGB) called for a boycott of the S-Bahn after the GDR had begun to levy fees for transit through its area. Initially, however, the population paid little heed to this appeal. The special commitment of the DGB can not only be explained by the loyalty of the Federal Republic of Germany to West Berlin, but also by the fact that the DGB was unable to establish close contacts with the DR because, as the western union, it does not accept the eastern company as a contact has been. The Reichsbahn's low S-Bahn fares also posed a threat to DGB wage claims against the BVG .

After the Wall was built in 1961, when the situation in the city escalated , more and more West Berliners - called on by students, the DGB and the so-called " Springer Press " - boycotted the S-Bahn and also expressed their displeasure with them in this way Berlin Wall off.

This type of protest was tacitly accepted by the Senate, because in this way it was possible to divert a highly dangerous situation directly at the wall (West Berlin demonstrators against East Berlin armed forces) in a safe direction: The rejection of the wall was now expressed through a boycott of “ Ulbricht's S-Bahn”.

Course of events

The GDR began the cordon measures for the construction of the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961.

In a public speech in front of the Schöneberg Town Hall on August 16, 1961 in front of thousands of listeners, Willy Brandt described it as "unreasonable that the S-Bahn's money from the West should be used to buy barbed wire."

About a month later, on September 17th, another boycott was called. Posts loudly announced their displeasure at the S-Bahn stations with slogans such as “The S-Bahn driver pays the barbed wire” or “Not a penny more for Ulbricht”.

The call to boycott was accepted by the Berlin population. The West-Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe BVG set up competing services with buses, and references to the S-Bahn were removed from underground stations, in network maps, on the directional signs of buses and trams and even in travel guides. After the boycott dragged on for years and there was no end in sight, people began to plan and build underground lines parallel to the S-Bahn.

effect

One of the DR's first reactions was an open letter from the director to West Berlin passengers. The GDR suffered great financial damage, as the necessary expenses continued to run due to the obligation to operate, but the foreign exchange income was almost completely lost. The number of passengers fell from around 500,000 passengers / day before the wall was built to less than 1/10 afterwards. The resulting financial losses for DR are estimated at DM 120 to 140 million per year.

The traffic safety of the railway was always ensured, but investments were not made, so that the hardly used stations became neglected. The empty buildings attracted criminals, which further deterred the population. As a result, and because the originally low fares were gradually increased, the S-Bahn in West Berlin became less and less important.

As early as the 1970s, the DR offered the West Berlin Senate the lease of the S-Bahn several times, but this was always rejected by the latter with the advice that one could only lease what belonged to one. In fact, the S-Bahn did not belong to the Deutsche Reichsbahn, it only had the operating rights , but no property .

Timetable restrictions to save costs in the 1980s resulted in the second strike by West Berlin DR employees. As a result, there were numerous layoffs, further restrictions and the cessation of operations on some S-Bahn routes.

The situation culminated in the autumn of 1983 with the announcement by the DR that it would completely stop S-Bahn traffic in West Berlin at the end of the year. After negotiations between the West Berlin Senate and the responsible bodies in East Berlin and the approval of the Allies, the BVG took over the operation of the West Berlin S-Bahn from the Deutsche Reichsbahn on January 9, 1984, when operations began.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "GDR mobile between Reichsbahn and Rasendem Roland" - approx. 44-minute YouTube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nit8IE2sPy4 . Brandt's call for a boycott appears after about 20 minutes.
  2. ↑ Winfried Wolf: Berlin - a cosmopolitan city without a car? A traffic history 1848-2015 . 1st edition. Neuer ISP-Verlag, Cologne 1994, ISBN 3-929008-74-2 , p. 105 .