EPISODE 8 DEATH AND RAILWAYS: THE CEMETERY AT POTSDAMER BAHNHOF

Send us a text

Last week we  talked about the long-vanished cemetery railway line which connected Berlin-Wannsee with Germany's second largest burial site, Berlin's Südwestfriedhof Stahnsdorf. This episode remains in the realm of both the dead and the railways but with a serious shift towards Berlin's centre.

This time we are travelling to the first half of the eighteenth century and will take it from there until we have reached (and left) one of Berlin's best-known railway termini, Potsdamer Bahnhof.

To see images of the old Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof visit:

File:M Dreifaltigkeitskirche Berlin 1910.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

View of the church seen from Mohrenstraße looking west over Zietenplatz (Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1982-1213-508 / CC-BY-SA 3.0) - Wikipedia

To see photos of the first and the second Potsdamer Bahnhof look here:

First Potsdamer Bahnhof on a 1843  steel engraving by C Schulin after a drawing by E. Henning and in 1850 by an unknown author (both images in PD)

1890 Potsdamer Bahnhof with the cemetery before it (image in PD, here via Bildindex and Wikipedia)

You can see the exact position of the cemetery on the historic 1846 Berlin map here:
Kreuzberged - Berlin Companion

Sounds:
Main theme: “Assembly Line Frustration" © Ionics Music | TerraSound.de

Via Freesound:
"Bells and religious hymn on the top of "Dell'Avocata" mountain" by Felix Blume
"Train Stopping" by Vlatko Blazek via Freesound
"Gates of Heaven" by Theo Ther via Freesound
"Wales Steam-train" by Jrosin via Freesound
bbc_animals--f_07028130

Support the show

Read fascinating stories from Berlin's past and present, and listen to all the episodes from Season 1 of the podcast on Substack: theberlincompanion.com

Enjoy Berlin audio-tours created by yours truly: download Berlin Companion Audio-Walks App (free access code for all annual Substack blog supporters).

You can also find me at:

• @kreuzberged
• @berlincompanion.bsky.social
• The Berlin Companion on Instagram