Table of contents
- On the way from Helmstedt to Berlin A journey in the footsteps of the GDR
- On the way from Helmstedt to Berlin: Part 2
- Info
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24 pictures
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Main artery for capital traffic. On the A 2 truck and car columns roll to Berlin. During the GDR era, the motorway was compulsory for transit travelers from the Helmstedt / Marienborn border crossing.
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Westward. Check-out at Checkpoint Charlie.
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On the way on a gray-bleached strip of asphalt, accompanied by the monotonous cycle of the transverse joints at 100 km / h. The transit trip to Berlin was once anything but colorful and varied behind the Checkpoint Alpha. In contrast to today.
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The Russians made the soup. But the Soljanka is still dutifully spooned out in eastern Germany.
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Back to nature. The density of avenues is high in the east of Germany and in some cases a paradise for self-caterers.
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For the finale, it’s back on the autobahn shortly after the Ebay headquarters. Past the Bravo checkpoint, continue on the Avus into Berlin.
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Just a stone’s throw from the center of Berlin: the barren and lonely landscape between Brandenburg and Potsdam.
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Werner’s iconic workshop cafe on Glienicke Bridge in Potsdam will unfortunately soon be history. It’s best to stop by again quickly and enjoy his famous cheesecake.
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And motorcyclists? Travel to Berlin on beautiful routes.
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Blooming landscapes in the east? Of course also in red.
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The borderland between east and west itself was a restricted area.
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But don’t worry, the civilization that will save you is not a full tank away. Out and about with the two-stroke house brand at Schwielowsee.
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Land without identity? Some places can only be reached in unconventional ways and even do not reveal their names.
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And so it looked like the route van Helmstedt through Brandenburg to Berlin.
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And here it is, the most famous checkpoint. No cross-border commuters are now processed, only tourists.
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Paradise for gravel freaks: Motorcycling in the Mark Brandenburg.
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And the wall? Still in Friedrichshain.
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Today the bottleneck at the old zone border is a huge open-air museum.
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Get off the train. Into solitude. Berlin, here we come.
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Outbound traffic from the GDR was controlled from the so-called Inspector Bridge. With the aim of finding smugglers and preventing them from escaping.
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Berlin itself is as always: full, flashy, weird. After years of being sidelined, Kreuzberg’s nightlife is back in fashion.
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But although the landscape is barren, it has its charms.
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Storks shape the picture in many places and defy the trend towards rural exodus.
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Free travel from west to east. That works, hand on it.
to travel
On the way from Helmstedt to Berlin
On the way from Helmstedt to Berlin
A journey in the footsteps of the GDR
On the way on a gray bleached asphalt strip, accompanied by the monotonous rhythm of the cross joints at 100 km / h. The transit trip to Berlin was once anything but colorful and varied behind the Alpha checkpoint. In contrast to today.
Jorg Lohse
10/14/2010
Sengul laughs. For hours she has been standing in the blazing sun in the middle of Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse and hugging people. A group of pensioners in shorts, slippers and cotton socks approaches and builds up next to her. Sengul adjusts the collar of her uniform, grabs the flag tighter and beams in the direction of the camera. Click, click, click. The pensioners leave, and a group of schoolgirls in hot pants and flip-flops is ready.
A short scramble for the best seats, the camera shutter rattles, done, the next please. Sengul cannot estimate how many photos she is now framed around the world. The 21-year-old Kurdish woman stands in one of the most famous places that once divided the world – and which is now a magnet for people from all over the world. The macabre showdown of 1961, when American and Soviet tanks were racing against each other and World War three was in the air, is only present on postcards at the numerous stands around it. Today it’s Showtime at Checkpoint Charlie, and neither Russians nor Americans are in charge.
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Because the Allied checkpoint in the middle of Berlin is firmly in Turkish hands in 2010. Around the faithful reconstruction of the first control barracks, hawkers have set up their stands. The density of devotions from the Cold War era is high. The uniforms of the Red Army or the border troops of the GDR are divided into divisions and hang on clothes rails or are laid out on trestle tables. Fur hats and medals with hammer and sickle are also good, says Kaya. The Turk came to Berlin in the unified year of 1990 and has been touring the capital with his mobile shop ever since. Business is booming and demand has remained unbroken to this day. And of course all original goods: “In 1993 I was able to buy uniform stocks from the NVA. Everything was there, from the Vopo to the Air Force. Even the remnants of the Feliks Dzierzynski guard regiment.” While Sengul and her colleague Dennis in French and American uniforms get ready for the next photo shoot, city guide Miriam is dragging a horde of young people to the checkpoint at the former Berlin Wall. Terms like Berlin blockade, airlift and cherry bomber are mentioned. Miriam is brave: “Who knows more?” The kids look at each other questioningly, occasionally a hand shrugs, but most of them only shrug their shoulders. The times when the western part of Berlin bobbed like a forgotten island in hostile waters could hardly be further away on this sunny day in the middle of Germany’s capital.
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Outbound traffic from the GDR was controlled from the so-called Inspector Bridge. With the aim of finding smugglers and preventing them from escaping.
The streets are packed, the streams of visitors push their way from the direction of the Reichstag through the Brandenburg Gate, past the noble Hotel Adlon, into the old and new boulevard Unter den Linden. Around it, numerous shopping malls and trendy designer stores dominate the new center of Berlin. The view of Germany’s recent history becomes much less spectacular when you thunder east on the wide A 2 past Braunschweig and look for the remains of the Alpha checkpoint.
Historically correct reconstructions like the Berlin counterpart are searched in vain on the outskirts of Lower Saxony. The first of all allied checkpoints on the former zone border, named after the ICAO / NATO alphabet, is de facto no longer available. That is why art has the say.
Shortly after Helmstedt, the union of FRG and GDR is on the parking lot “Black cat” sealed again with a powerful handshake. In the shadow of the nine-meter-high cast iron sculpture by the French Josep Castell is Grna from Belarus with his MAN truck. Son Vladislav is on vacation and accompanies dad in a 40-ton truck. From Moscow across Germany and back. One round lasts ten days. With a nod, the trucker points to the overgrown customs house and grins: “No control, broken!” The grueling wait, the endless controls when moving from east to west have finally said goodbye to this place. The trucker looks at the Triumph Thunderbird and twirls his mustache thoughtfully. Then he grins again, rummages in his wallet and pulls out the tattered picture of a 2009 Yamaha R1, taken in the vastness of the Russian steppe: “Very good bike. Very fast”, he laughs and proudly pats his chest.
Just a few kilometers further, the history of the division comes to life again in Germany’s unique drive-in museum. Directly behind the Esso petrol station Marienborn, the old control systems of the GDR are perfectly preserved – included “Fiffi”. The GDR border guards have given the nickname to the steel roller barrier that was used to prevent escape from the GDR.
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Back to nature. The density of avenues is high in the east of Germany and in some cases a paradise for self-caterers.
Fiffi was able to block the road in seconds at the push of a button and would have relentlessly stopped a 50-ton truck traveling at 80 km / h. Ten million vehicles passed the Marienborn border crossing every year, today only a few gray-tinged group travelers and families with nosing children stroll through the processing barracks. No more than 50 meters away, the traffic rushes through the six lanes of the A2. According to the noise level, it could be ten million in one day. In any case, far too much to relax and cruise to Berlin on the Triumph Thunderbird.
What used to be unthinkable in transit traffic to Berlin is of course child’s play today: get off the autobahn and stroll towards the capital on paths that are as beautiful as they are lonely. An anonymous Romeo used the crumbled watchtower at B1 for his own purposes: “Julia, I love you!” emblazoned as large graffiti between loopholes and ventilation shaft. To the north, the old armored plate path disappears into the green thicket. The twin rumbles through the first eastern village. If Juliet had lived here in Morsleben during the GDR era and had wanted to receive Romeo from Magdeburg for a cup of coffee, it would not have been so easy. Because the GDR area along the old inner-German border was a restricted zone and could only be reached with a pass. Romeo should have given damn good reasons to make Juliet happy.
It zigzags through Saxony-Anhalt’s gently rolling hilly landscape. Into quiet, almost forgotten places, mostly on “-Life” and in some cases can look back on a 1000-year history. No wonder, after all, the region near Magdeburg was the home of King Otto the Great, once ruler of the East Franconian Empire and later even the Roman-German Emperor. Politically as well as economically, the post went off here in the early Middle Ages. Today, comfort is more the trend in this region.
Correspondingly leisurely we let ourselves be drifted over the Elbe into Jerichower Land at river kilometer 375 behind Grieben. The midday silence in the little beetles is slowly beating on the stomach. That “Stork nest” in Ferchland attracts with its shady beer garden in the backyard. Soon a strong Solyanka will be on the table. The spicy cabbage and cucumber stew from Russia, cultivated in the 40 years of the GDR, is still an integral part of East German cuisine today. We could become regulars – just like the stork couple who move up to the chimney with host Ursula Lude every year and raise their offspring. The row twin pushes its way further east along the shady avenues with a leisurely roar.
On the way from Helmstedt to Berlin: Part 2
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Blooming landscapes in the east? Of course also in red.
The network of trails in Havelland is perfect for large-volume cruisers like a Triumph Thunderbird. The few bends are negotiated while steering past – and pose no real challenges for either the driver or the vehicle. Until we look for the way to Zachow in Wachow. “It’s a shame about the beautiful part”, says the landlord of the Villa Wachow and points down Leninstrasse. The cobblestone pavement turns into a dusty sand runway at the end of the village – which is not uncommon in the Mark Brandenburg. The Triumph swallows the way at first without grumbling like others, the one with cobblestone remains on sandy ground for kilometers in the truest sense of the word “across the country” to lead. But there is no question that with a BMW GS these excursions would have been more fun. It is hard to believe, however, that in this dusty wasteland you are hardly further than 50 kilometers from the center of the 3.4 million city of Berlin.
The decoration of the old library in the small monastery town of Lehnin to the south of the old transit route is just as bizarre. Instead of the classics of socialist world literature, tangible youthful dreams like a ’73 Kreidler Florett or Zundapp Bergsteiger from 1970 are gathering dust behind the almost blind shop windows, alongside rarities such as an Aprilia Guilietta from 1958.
At Schwielowsee south of Potsdam, however, you can literally smell the famous Berlin air. The small towns of Ferch and Caputh are packed with sun-hungry day trippers from the capital. Anyway, Caputh, there was something… “Of course, Einstein’s palace”, Temporary waiter Sven helps us in the Fahrhaus Caputh: “But it’s a hut like any other. Nothing to it, a little bit in it. I’ve seen better things.” We trust the original Berliner Schnauze and leave Caputh without looking at Einstein’s old home. But the Thunderbird annoys with a squeaky toothed belt.
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The tourist-friendly rest of the wall in Friedrichshain.
The excursion over the dusty slopes did a little bit to her. It’s good that Werner still runs his iconic Harley workshop on Glienicke Bridge in Potsdam. A few pushes from the Teflon spray can quickly calm the final drive. Werner himself also longs for rest. In 1996 he rented the listed gas station from the Treuhand. The building is from 1937 and thanks to clever architecture it survived the bombs of the Second World War without damage: “On aerial photos, the fuel tank looks like a completely normal residential building. That saved her”, Werner knows. According to Werner, the workshop and the adjoining cafe are not just for motorcyclists “the coolest place in all of Berlin and Potsdam”.
Now the trust has terminated him. Werner has to make way for a new owner. What comes is open. Just like the future of Checkpoint Bravo. The striking round building on the A 115, formerly Berlin’s most important entrance portal as the Dreilinden-Drewitz border crossing, has been empty for years. The listed complex of rest house and gas station in the weird 70s look now belongs to a Berlin entrepreneur and is to be filled with new life as an adventure park. Who would have thought? 20 years after the end of the GDR, its history has come back to life.
Info
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Capital: Berlin – Area: 357 112 km2 – Founding: 1949 – Currency: Euro – Population: 81.76 million – Travel time: two to three days – Distance covered: 330 kilometers
Motorcycling in the middle of Germany. Curve addicts will not get their money’s worth here. But the spirit of discovery increases.
background:
Fixed points on this tour were the allied checkpoints at the old inner-German or Berlin sector border. The counterpart to Checkpoint Alpha at the (West German) checkpoint Helmstedt was the Marienborn border crossing on former GDR territory. Today the memorial is located on the site “German division Marienborn”. The old border crossing is freely accessible to visitors as a walk-in museum. In addition, guided tours are offered and a documentation center provides information about the history. The best way to get there is via the Marienborn petrol station on the A2. Info: www.stgs.sachsen-anhalt.de. From 1969, the Bravo checkpoint was located at the Drewitz / Dreilinden checkpoint on the southern outskirts of Berlin on the A 115. Parts of the currently unused facility can be reached via the Zehlendorf junction or Potsdamer Chaussee / B 1 (Dreilinden customs office). Checkpoint Charlie was only allowed to be used as a border crossing in Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse by the military and diplomats. After the barracks were demolished in June 1990, the first checkpoint was reconstructed ten years later. Immediately next to Checkpoint Charlie is the Wall Museum and an open-air gallery with historical motifs from the time of the Berlin Wall. Info: www.mauer-museum.com
variants:
The tour can be extended in many directions. For example, by visiting the Autostadt Wolfsburg with many exhibitions and the Phaeno experimentation museum. Info: www.autostadt.de and www.phaeno.de. Worth seeing in the city of Brandenburg is the industrial museum, in which the time of steel production with its huge melting furnaces comes to life again. Info: www.industriemuseum-brandenburg.de. The Havel landscape around it is best explored by ship. More information at the tourist information (phone 03381/208769, www.stadt-brandenburg.de). Literature tip for further discovery tours around Berlin and Brandenburg: “Forgotten Places – Lost Places” by Thomas Sadewasser (16.90 euros). Detailed route description including helpful GPS coordinates.
Stay:
In the larger cities (Magdeburg, Brandenburg, Potsdam) it is not a problem to find a room for the night even at a late hour. Finding accommodation becomes more difficult in smaller communities. Caution: Overnight stay information on the roadside is sometimes hopelessly out of date. Weird tip for Berlin: Sleep in Paul Michaelsen’s former factory. hotel “The factory”, Schlesische Str. 18, Berlin-Kreuzberg, single room from 38 euros (phone 030/6117116, www.diefabrik.com)
map:
MOTORCYCLE travel card set “Northern Germany” (1: 300000) in waterproof tank bag format (24.80 euros, www.motorradreisekarten.de)
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