WHEN GÖRLI WAS A BAHNHOF: THE STORY OF A VANISHED STATION

Many places in Berlin continue to exist today in nothing but curious, often old-fashioned names. Gone is the ski-jump which was the namesake for Zehlendorf’s Sprungschanzestraße; gone the vineyards and the winemakers who inspired Weinmeisterstraße, Weinbergspark (Volkspark am Weinberg) or the original name of today’s Kreuzbergstraße, Weinmeisterweg; gone the Schöneberger Hafen, once a Landwehrkanal harbour which lives on in the name Hafenplatz, a small plaza and a little park built on its site.

One of the most famous vanished Berlin locations whose name continues to be present in the city’s life to this day (even if its fame is more of infame really) is Görlitzer Bahnhof. Most people associate it with the U-Bahn station of the same name – U-Bhf  “Görlitzer Bahnhof” on the U1/U3 line – unaware of the fact that the station erected by Siemens & Halske on the crossing Skalitzer-, Wiener- and Oranienstraße was itself named after…