Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, could W Berliners travel by road/rail to rest of W Germany? If so how?

Question

Berlin Wall, Iron Curtain, East Berlin, West Berlin, East Germany, West Germany

Answer 1

There were 3 railroad lines from West-Berlin to Hamburg, Hannover and the third to Bavaria. You needed your Passport, a ticket and off you go. The lines were operated by East Germany and they needed valuta. The trains didn't stop in East Germany.

There were 3 streets, from West Berlin to West Germany you could use (by your own car or by bus). You needed your Passport the papers of your car and off you go. You were only allowed to park on special parking places and you were forbidden to have contact to eastern German citizens. The Western German government paid maut.

This connections were installed by the 4 allieds.

Greetings from Hamburg, Germany

Heinz

Answer 2

West Berlin was an enclave within the Soviet Occupied Zone, but West Berliners could travel to West Germany by car through strongly limited areas like the Autobahn A9, and there were also flights from West Berlin to West Germany from Berlin Tegel (IATA code: TXL) to some West German destinations, and vice versa. You had to apply for a flight about a week before departure; on road travels, you weren't allowed to leave the designated road and had to show your passport when entering and leaving the GDR. GDR people weren't allowed to leave their country to the west at all; BRD (FRG, federal republic of Germany) people were allowed into the GDR when they had visa clearance, which I couldn't get because I was a member of the West German armed forces then, and as by NATO statute, it was impossible for me to cross Warsaw Block territory by car or train. And as I had no relatives in West-Berlin, but just wanted to see the city, I paid for the plane ticket all by myself, which wasn't really cheap these days, and had the fun of getting debriefed by West German military service on return. All I could tell them that I had gotten deliberately drunk in West Berlin's red light district, and some plane picked me up at Tegel (TXL). And I still swear that that's all I remember.

After reunification, I lived and worked in Berlin for 7 years, and it's a city to love or hate, to take or leave. I find it lovely, after all.

Answer 3

I can just add to TB.

Yep the wall did run around West Berlin making it impossible for East German people to enter it and West Germans to just go into East Germany and surely there was also a big fence at the western border from East Germany to West Germany.

I have been traveling to Berlin and East Germany several times during those years. Going to West Berlin was easy. We just bought a train ticket in West Germany and then traveled by train, without a stop in East Germany to Berlin Zoo train station. I never did the trip just to Berlin by car, but would assume that people from West Berlin could just cross the border with a temp permit to drive over to West Germany. You could not leave the highway, but you could stop at special rest areas, if you needed to. These highways have usually been a good place for the east German goverment to make money, through the restaurants and speed traps.

Going to East Germany to was more difficult, as you had to get a special visa, which you needed to request well in advance giving very important reasons. These trips were quite exciting and scary and usually a big sigh did go through my parents car, when we were back in west Germany. After getting the visa, your date to enter the country was fixed. Crossing the border was a thing on it's own, with several checks and questioning by customs. The coolest thing I remember though was an assembly line to transport your passport from checkpoint to checkpoint. When you had reached your final destination, which were our relatives close to Erfurt, did we have to go to city hall and register. And last but not least they had a fixed amount of money you had to exchange per day per person into East German money, which was then very hard to spend.

Luckily this time is past.

Ina

Answer 4

Yes, Otto B is correct.

Although there was a wall around West Berlin - there was rail service and highways running through East Germany and connecting West Germany to West Berline - but you could only drive all of the way through.  Most goods were delivered by rail and truck.

There was a short period of time during which all of the roads were blocked - the Soviets were trying to starve out West Berlin - but the United States provided an airlift that kept the city supplied long enough to end the stand off and open the city again for travel and resupply.

Note: theadsm... and Sandy B seem confused - the Wall ran around West Berlin - locking them inside of East Germany - not the other way around.  There was a controlled border between East and West Germany - that you could not easily get across - but the Wall was around West Berlin.  The question asked was whether they could get out of the wall - and make it to the rest of West Germany from which they were disconnected.  The city of Berlin lies inside of what used to be East Germany.  That portion of the city of Berlin that used to be West Berlin was locked inside of East Germany by the Wall.

Answer 5

Yes, they could. There were a few highways running through the GDR. But you could not stop on the way to the border. You had to do the whole trip at once (3-4 hours from Berlin to W-Germany). If you got off the road for whatever reason, you would have been in big time trouble.

You were also able to fly from and to West-Berlin or take a train.

Answer 6

yes, normally by road or rail....WTF is your question again? I'm confused.......west germans could go anywhere in west germany....they might of had a few problems going to the ''east'' and then getting back home.......

Answer 7

no i believe they couldn't that is why kenedy went to germany and said his famous ich bin ein berliner line(which actually meant he was a donut lol) so he could send supplies and help to the people of e berlin because they were traped in their city, surrounded by w germany, but senior citizen e germans could apply for transfer to w germany.

Answer 8

West Berliners could travel anywhere in West Germany they wanted. East Berliners couldn't; the Wall was in their way.