Cab to Kreuzberg

The Berlin Wall not only separated the western part of the city from the eastern part, but also represented an insurmountable traffic obstacle, at least for those who wanted to travel from  N 31  to  SO 36  (former postal districts with cardinal points).

For taxi drivers, on the other hand, this was a lucrative job, as the route was almost three times longer than the direct route without the Wall.

We follow the route from Berlin-Wedding to Berlin-Kreuzberg, which was the shortest connection between  Bernauer Straße  and  Köpenicker Strasse  in West Berlin from 1961 to 1989.

Like hardly any other street in Berlin, the entire length of Bernauer Strasse was extremely affected by the  construction of the Wall , as the property boundaries on the south side also formed the sector border, i.e. the house facades themselves formed the first Wall.

Dramatic events took place here between August and October 1961.

The division of the city was also clearly recognisable in the official city maps of the Senator for Building and Housing. The western part of the map above is shown in the contemporary style with the current situation, while the eastern part is shown in the historical style with the situation in 1949, as no current information about East Berlin was officially allowed to be used.