Berlin-Britz, Späthstraßenbrücke Bridge
Späthstraße 41A, 12359 Berlin, Germany
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Between two worlds

Dostupné v: English | Deutsch

Between the years 1946 – 1959, the Späthstraße Bridge served as the link between East and West Berlin for Siegfried Buchholz. On the way to school and later University, he would cross the border via this bridge every day. The application to a West-Berlin school had heavily impacted Buchholz' life since it resulted in constant reprisals and surveillance of the family by the East-German government. When his mother was arrested at the border crossing because of the smuggling of twelve chicken eggs on December 12, 1959, Siegfried Buchholz and his brother fled to the FRG for fear that they would be as well.

Siegfried Buchholz

Siegfried Buchholz

Sigfried Buchholz, born in 1939, had to flee with his family from Posen to Berlin in order to get out of the way of the advancing Red Army in 1945. The division of Berlin had direct consequences for Sigfried – he lived in East Berlin but went to school in West Berlin. Even though the authorities in East Berlin exerted considerable pressure on his family to enroll the children for a school in East Berlin, the family didn’t yield and Sigfried stayed at his original school. Thus he would cross the border on a daily basis and was confronted with permanent border controls. Together with his father, he also witnessed the rebellion on June 17, 1953. In 1959, he fled together with his brother to West Berlin after his mother had been arrested on charges of alleged smuggling.

Berlin-Britz, Späthstraßenbrücke Bridge

Dostupné v: English | Deutsch

The Späthstraßenbrücke Bridge, opened in 1906 in Berlin-Britz, spans across the Teltow Canal. It was one of the very few bridges left intact after World War II. Until the reunification of Germany in 1990, the bridge would connect the two separated parts of Berlin. It was eventually replaced by a new construction in 2002, but the original bridge has become a cultural heritage and can still be seen arching above the Teltow Canal. It was named after the Berlin botanist Franz Ludwig Späth.

Berlin-Britz, Späthstraßenbrücke Bridge

Na tomto místě

Between two worlds

Between two worlds

Siegfried Buchholz
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