The Invalidenstraße is a street in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. It runs east to west for through the districts of

Mitte Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kre ...

and

Moabit Moabit () is an inner city locality in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2016, around 77,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial and working-class neighbourhood ...

. The street originally connected three important railway stations in the northern city centre: the Stettiner Bahnhof (today Nordbahnhof), the Hamburger Bahnhof and the Lehrter Bahnhof, the present-day

Berlin Hauptbahnhof Berlin Hauptbahnhof () (English: Berlin Central Station) is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It came into full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, ...

History

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-C1031-0044-007, Berlin, Grenzübergang Invalidenstraße

The street was laid out in the 13th century and originally named ''

Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by land ...

er Heerweg''. It was renamed after a hostel erected in 1748 by the order of King

Frederick II of Prussia Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the S ...

, the ''Invalidenhaus'', which served the

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

s that fought in the Silesian Wars. Today the remaining parts of this building house offices for the Federal Ministry of Economics. On western Invalidenstraße was the site of the notorious Moabit cell prison and large barracks of the Prussian Uhlans (''Uhlanenkaserne'').

East-West border crossing

After World War II Invalidenstraße was divided between

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

and

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

and the ''Sandkrugbrücke'' crossing the Berlin-Spandau Shipping Canal was the location of a

border crossing Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...

. Nearby on August 24, 1961

Günter Litfin Günter Litfin (19 January 1937 – 24 August 1961) was a German tailor who became the second known person to die at the Berlin Wall. Litfin was the first victim to be killed by East German border troops, the first to succumb to gunshot wounds, ...

attempting to flee to the west was shot by East German border troops, becoming the second victim at the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the gover ...

erected eleven days before. A memorial marks the site.

Invalidenstraße today

After

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

, Invalidenstraße became one of the most important arterial roads in Berlin, particularly after the opening of the new

. A further expansion including a tramway line is planned. Several public institution and federal ministries are situated along the street: the

Museum of Natural History A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more ...

and the faculties of agriculture and horticulture of the

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

as well as the Federal Ministry of Transport and, on the other side of the ''Invalidenpark'', the Federal Ministry of Economics opposite of the

Charité The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité – Berlin University of Medicine) is one of Europe's largest university hospitals, affiliated with Humboldt University and Free University Berlin. With numerous Collaborative Research C ...

hospital Campus Mitte. Beyond the ''Sandkrugbrücke'' in Moabit the former Hamburger Bahnhof train station has been converted into the Museum für Gegenwart.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Invalidenstrasse Streets in Berlin Berlin border crossings

History

East-West border crossing

Invalidenstraße today

See also

References