Sebastianstrasse (Berlin)

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Sebastianstrasse
coat of arms
Street in Berlin
Sebastianstrasse
Sebastianstrasse in the direction of
Alfred-Döblin-Platz
Basic data
place Berlin
District Kreuzberg and Mitte
Created February 27, 1839
Hist. Names Kirchgasse (around 1699 to around 1723) ,
Kirchstrasse (around 1723 to mid-18th century) ,
Sebastiankirch-Gasse (mid-18th century to 1839)
Connecting roads
Alte Jakobstrasse (north) ,
Dresdener Strasse (south)
Cross streets Heinrich-Heine-Strasse ,
Prinzenstrasse,
Luckauer Strasse
Places Alfred-Döblin-Platz
use
User groups Pedestrian traffic , bicycle traffic , car traffic
Technical specifications
Street length 840 meters

The Sebastian Street is located in the Berlin districts of Mitte (house numbers 1-61) and Kreuzberg (house numbers 69-88). It is named after the Sebastiankirche (later Luisenstadt Church ), which stood in the former Köpenick district (later Luisenstadt ) until 1965. Due to the course of the Berlin Wall , parts of the street were located in both East and West Berlin .

Course and history

The course of the road begins in the north on Alte Jakobstrasse and runs south-eastwards to Dresdener Strasse. At the level of Alte Jakobstrasse, the foundation stone for a church was laid in 1694 on the initiative of the church mayor Sebastian Nethe . In his honor it was named Sebastiankirche with the adjoining Kirchgasse (today's Sebastianstraße). Around 1723 it was renamed Kirchstrasse and in the middle of the 18th century it was renamed Sebastiankirch-Gasse. 1839 carried the name Sebastianstraße used until now, while the church two years earlier in honor of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in Luis City Church had been renamed.

When the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, the street was divided: the houses with house numbers 1–3 belonged to East Berlin, while houses 81–87 on the opposite side belonged to West Berlin. Its residents were allowed to use the sidewalk, which was already part of the Soviet sector .

  • Sidewalk along the Berlin Wall , 1961

  • Sidewalk along the wall, 1965

  • Berlin Wall, behind it the row of houses at Sebastianstrasse 1–3, 1965

Escape tunnel Sebastianstrasse 82

Berlin-Kreuzberg , Sebastianstraße 82: An escape tunnel was dug
from this house on the West Berlin side to the east
Information board opposite the house at Sebastianstrasse 82, from which an escape tunnel was dug to the east

During the period of division , a total of 70 tunnels are known for the years 1961–1982 , with which an attempt was made to bring relatives and friends to West Berlin. In the spring / summer of 1962, work on an escape tunnel of this type began in the building at Sebastianstrasse 82. Under the direction of escape helpers Siegfried Noffke and Dieter Hötger , a tunnel about 30 meters long and 75 centimeters wide was created, which reached under the basement of the building at Heinrich-Heine-Straße 45-49. The plan was to bring relatives to West Berlin on June 28, 1962. However, the Ministry for State Security (MfS) had been informed about the project by the unofficial employee "Pankow" since June 4th and was observing the work. Under the code name “Moles”, traces of earthworks were first searched on the West Berlin side. In addition to the earthworks in house 82, a hole about two meters deep was discovered, which, however, belonged to a tunnel structure from house number 81 that was not pursued any further. On June 28, the escape helpers broke through the basement floor with the help of a jack and ran into the prepared trap at 12:15 p.m. Shortly after the mission signal, an MfS officer opened fire on Noffke and Hötger, who were unarmed. Noffke died of his gunshot wounds, Hötger was seriously injured. By ricochet , however, the officer and the IM "Pankow" were wounded. Like the eleven who were willing to flee, Hötger was sentenced to a long prison term for so-called “flight from the republic ”. The unofficial employee was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit of the National People's Army by Erich Mielke . An information board in the street has been reminding of what is happening since 2009.

Artist's impression

  • An artist's representation of the course of the Wall on Sebastian- / Luckauer Straße was created in 1977 by the German painter and sculptor Rainer Fetting under the title Yellow Wall . The work can be seen in the Berlinische Galerie .
  • Since September 2012 there is a panorama painting of Sebastianstrasse at the time of the Berlin Wall at Checkpoint Charlie . It was designed by the artist Yadegar Asisi .

Others

See also

Web links

Commons : Sebastianstraße (Berlin)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Chronicle of the Wall: August 29, 1961 , website of Chronicle of the Wall, accessed on January 26, 2013.
  2. ↑ Udo Baron: The victims of the Berlin Wall 1961–1989: a biographical handbook . Ch. Links Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86153-517-1 , p. 99 (accessed January 28, 2013).
  3. ↑ Information and memorial plaque of the Berliner Unterwelten e. V. in Sebastianstrasse
  4. ↑ Eliese Berresheim: memorial plaque revealed - a failed tunnel escape . In: Berliner Morgenpost , August 13, 2009, accessed on January 27, 2013. (Link subject to charge)
  5. ↑ Yellow wall. Website of the Berlinische Galerie , accessed on January 26, 2013.

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 16.8 ″  N , 13 ° 24 ′ 45.1 ″  E