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Chronicles – The Year 2011 Our activities since 1997
11709_25th_of_November_20125th of November, 2011
The association visits the Moritzplatz underground station
14 members of the association met in the Moritzplatz underground station as part of the event series “12 months, 12 structures”. It was built as a connecting station between today's U8 line and a further line that was supposed to connect Goerlitzer Bahnhof and Lehrter Bahnhof, but was never completed.
10th of November, 2011
New book release for the “Edition Berliner Unterwelten”
During the press conference for the one millionth visitor, the publication “Geschichtsspeicher Fichtebunker” was presented. It was produced in cooperation with the Center for Metroplolitan Studies (CMS), part of the Technischen Universität Berlin. The 120 page broschure examines the complex history of the last remaining brick gasometer in Berlin
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10th of November, 2011
The 1,000,000th visitor
During a tour F through the “mother and child bunker” on Fichtestrasse for the Berlin water company, we welcomed the millionth visitor since the Berlin Underworlds' establishment in 1997.
having begun with 2,000 visitors a year, we are expecting 240,000 visitors this year, who come not only from Berlin but from all over the world, with an interest in this city's underground history.
31st of October, 2011
Winter break for the Humboldthain flak tower
With the a special tour E for 15 association members, this year's season in the Humboldthain flak tower came to an end. Also our improvement work must wait until the end of March 2012, because of the hibernating bats.
28th of October, 2011
A visit to the Siemensdamm underground station
17 association members visited the “multi-purpose-facility” at Siemensdamm as part of the event series “12 months, 12 structures”. The undergound station was in the late 1970s as the largest civil defence shelter in Berlin, which offers space for around 4,400 people.
22nd of October, 2011
Object donated to Nuremberg
The Berlin Underworlds Association presentes the Nuremburg underground group: Foerderverein Nuernberger Felsengaenge an orginal generator that was recovered from a bunker in Braunschweig, and is very similar to the one that was built in to the “art bunker” in Nuremberg. The gift aids their efforts toreconstruct the historical bunker under the Burgberg.
2nd of October, 2011
Dedication of another memorial plaque
On a sunny Sunday a another bronze plaque was presented to the public on Bernauer Strasse 97, which remembers the two succesful escape tunnels from that were initiated by Wolfgang Fuchs from 1964 that ended on Strelitzer Strasse 54 and 55.
The memorial plaque was sponsered by friends of Wolfgang Fuchs and the Berlin Underworlds Association.
29th September, 2011
A visit to Heckeshorn
As part of the regular tour series “12 Months, 12 structures”, 20 members of the association made their way to Wannsee. Bunker specialist Reiner Janick led them on a two-hour tour of the above ground bunker and explained the history of the former air-raid protection school.
24th of September, 2011
Traditional BBQ on the flak tower
On a beautiful sunny day, many association members joined a tour of the “mother and child bunker” in the Humboldthain park before the traditional BBG began around 5.30pm. Over the evening circa 60 members of the association enjoyed the food and beer before the lights went out around midnight.
5th of September, 2011
2nd, extended edition of “Wege durch die Mauer” is published
The 2nd print of association member Burkhart Veigel's book has been delivered to the stores. It is already the most successful book that the “Edition Berliner Unterwelten” has brought out.
27th of August, 2011
29th Long Night of the Museums
For the 29th Long Night of the Museums, the association opened the “mother and child bunker” on Fichtestrasse. The visitors could explore parts of the building themselves that are normaly only accessable with a tour. Eye witnesses were their to answer questions and talk about their experiences regarding the building. In total, 1584 “Long Night” guests, including the finance senator Dr. Ulrich Nussbaum, made their way to the bunker.
27th of August, 2011
A visit to Dresdener Straße in Kreuzberg
As part of the event series “12 months, 12 structures”, a total of 19 interested members of the association made their way to Alfred-Doeblin-Platz in Kreuzberg. Both the underground station at Dresdener Strasse that was never used, as well as a tunnel that was converted into a mother and child bunker were visited.
14th of August, 2011
The “documentary theatre berlin” receives “the Red Scarf”
On Sunday the 14th of August 2011, the anti-fascist youth media prize, “the Red Scarf” was presented for the 27th time in Berlin. This year's recipient was the piece: “Forgotten Biographies – migrants and black people in National Socialism”, a the cooperation between young adults from the youth café “Nightflight” in Charlottenburg and the documentary theatre berlin.
13th of August, 2011
Photo exhibition of the Berlin Wall opens
In the cellar vaults of the former Oswald Berlin Brewery on Brunnenstrasse 143 in Berlin Mitte, not for from The Bernauer Strasse underground station, a photo exhibition from Matthias Kupfernagel opened.
The exhibition shows a representative selection of photos, taken between December 1989 and March 1990, which show the entire path of the Berlin Wall, including the “ghost stations”, bodies of water and canals, etc…
21st of July, 2011
TripAdvisor 5.0 rating certified
TripAdvisor, the world's largest portal for travel reviews on the internet, certified the Berlin Underworlds Association with the best possible total rating of 5.0.
12th of July, 2011
“Wege durch die Mauer” by association member Burkhart Veigel
With the book, “Wege durch die Mauer – Fluchthilfe und Stasi zwischen Ost und West” (ways through the Wall, escape helpers and the Stasi between East and West), a new book has been released by the associations own publishing house. For the first time, the association is marketing and shipping a book all over Germany.
26th of June, 2011
Sound art in the unused Oranienplatz underground station
In the rooms of the never-activated Oranienplatz underground station under Dresdener Strasse in Berlin-Kreuzberg, a concert – the “Underground Symphony” – was held.
The “Underground Ensemble”, founded especially for this purpose, explored and improvised with the sonic and acoustic conditions, architectural peculiarities and history of the space. The result was a sound-art performance which made this unusual place come to life in a new way.
The event was a cooperation between “exploratorium berlin” and the Berlin Underworlds' _tiefKLANG workgroup and “inter art project Berlin”.
23rd of June, 2011
Sculpture vandalised
in the night betwen the 22nd and 23rd of June, the “Peter-Fechter-sculpture” from the artist Florian Brauer, that had been placed in the former “Death Strip” of the Berlin Wall at Bernauer Straße 32 less than two weeks prior was vandalised and destroyed.
The police have no leads as of yet…
18th of June, 2011
Music video for “Frei” is complete
the music video for the tunnel song “Frei” (free) has been competed with support of the association, and will be premiered during “48 Hours Neukoelln”.
Music video on youtube.com hier
15th of June, 2011
The governing mayor pays a visit
The mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, visited the Underworlds Museum (Tour 1) along with some of his colleagues and wrote in our guestbook.
11th of June, 2011
“Berlin Wall memorial 1000”
The Bernauer Strasse has a new sculpture. The artist Florian Brauer, who created the “Wall Jumper”, has put up his new piece, “Berlin Wall memorial 1000”. The sculpture is intended to be a reminder for the circa 1000 victims of the Berlin Wall and East-West German border. Specifically it represents the murder of Peter Fechter on the 17th of August, 1962 on Zimmerstrasse between Mitte and Kreuzberg.
The Berlin Underworlds Association supports the artist's efforts.
6th of June, 2011
Museum brochure in German
As a companion to our tour 1 – “Dark Worlds”, that takes place in the Berlin Underworlds Museum, a full-colour German-language brochure is now available in at our ticket office at the Gesundbrunnen station. The brochure provides an overview of the main themes of the tour as well as selected objects from the museum's exhibits.
The brochure will soon be available in English, Spanish and Dutch.
24th of May, 2011
Memorial plaque unveiled
The association has donated a new memorial plaque for a tunnel dug from East to West Berlin, which was discoverd by the Stasi on the 24th of May, 1963 shortly before its completion.
The plaque is located on Kremmener Strasse 15 in Berlin-Mitte, near Bernauerstr.
2nd of May, 2011
Book publication from the “Edition Berliner Unterwelten”
“Die Untergrundbahn von Gesundbrunnen nach Neukölln. Zur Eröffnung der Nordstrecke Neanderstrasse – Gesundbrunnen am 18. April 1930” (The underground line from Gesundbrunnen to Neukoelln. For the opening of the northern segment Neanderstrasse – Gesundbrunnen on the 18th of April 1930) has been published in as a reprint by the Association.
12th of April, 2011
Historical rooms rented
The association has rented the basement level shop space on Brunnenstrasse 143 that is attached to the historical cellars of the former Oswald-Berliner-Brewery. The rooms are to be used for exhibitions and events, wherein we also have the possability to set up the association's own brewery.
Further cellars are still filled with rubble and junk, so further discoveries are likely…
6th of April, 2011
Exhibition opening in Nuremberg
On the 6th of April, the exhibitions “Mythos Germania” and “Tempelstadt Nuremberg” opened in the “Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds”.
Around 200 interested persons attended a lecture involving Nuremberg's culture speaker Prof. Dr. Julia Lehner, member of the German federal parliament for the CSU Michael Frieser, architechtural historian Prof. Dr. Helmut Schaeche from the Beuth technical college in Berlin und chairman of the Berlin Underworlds Association Dietmar Arnold.
A year ago, Mr. Frieser contacted the association in order to bring the exhibition to Nuremberg, the location of further examples of Hitler's meglomania – the half-finished congress hall and the never-built “German stadium”. Panels with text and pictures compliment the film models of the “north-south axis” and the stadium, providing information about the plans of of Hitler's General Building Inspector Albert Speer. The exhibition runs until the 23rd of October.
5th of April, 2011
Ventilation system in the Underworlds Museum finally finished
With the completion of a intake tower, the restored historical ventilation system in the Underworld Museum is fully functioning. The air quality should now be considerably better.
15th of March, 2011
Counting bats in the Humboldthain Flak tower
Every 15th of March, the bats are counted in their winter abode in the Humboldhain Flak tower. Unfortunatly there were fewer this year. The biologist Carsten Kallaschwas only able to locate 16 greater mouse-eared bats, one Daubenton's bat and two Natterer's bats. He noted that the early and especially cold winter may be a reason.
2nd of March, 2011
First reading in the Pankstrasse civil defence shelter
The journalist and media scholar Dr. Rainer Jogschies read from his book “Wo, bitte, geht´s zu meinem Bunker?” (please, which way to my bunker?), which fit in nicely in this authentic place. The book deals with the absurd search for a civil defence shelter in Hamburg in the 1980s.
1st of March, 2011
Ticket office moves
The ticket office and bookshop has moved into its new space in the pavilion next to the south entrance of the Gesundbrunnen underground station
23rd and 24th of February, 2011
Search for “tunnel 29” only a partial success
In the process trying to locate the “tunnel 29” on Schoenholzer Str. 17, drilling probes unfortunately revealed that the tunnel had been completely filled with concrete in the 1960s.
23th of February 2011
The “RBB-Heimatjournal” reports on Gesundbrunnen
The “RBB-Heimatjournal” (German culture programme) visited the Berlin Underworlds Museum as part of a report about the Gesundbrunnen area. The moderator Ulli Zelle signed our guestbook at the end of their visit.
12th of February, 2011
Restoration work on the operating theatre bunker on Teichstrasse
With the replacement of all the loose tiles in the sterilisation room, the operating theatre bunker on Teichstrasse has been completely restored to memorial preservation standard.
29th of January, 2011
The “tunnel escapes” workgroup visits Marienfelde refuge centre memorial.
During a two hour tour, participants learned not just about the history of the facility, but also more about the “Fichtebunker” and some of the escape tunnels…
For those interested, a visit to the exhibition is highly recommended!
19th of January, 2011
The “tunnel escapes” workgroup takes a peak into the canalization
Members of the “tunnel escapes” workgroup visited the canalization under Esplande and Gruenstrasse, through which until October 1961, hundreds of people fled to the west. We'd like to thank the Berlin water company for their support.
5th of January, 2011
Memorial protection for the Blochplatz and Pankstrasse civil defence shelters
The association has received notice from the state office for landmark protection that the civil defence shelters at Blochplatz (renovated 1981-83) and Pankstrasse (built 1976-77) have been entered into the registry of protected buildings. With that, the singular ensemble at Gesundbrunnen has been secured for the future.
1st of January, 2011
Annual balance for 2010
In the year 2010, 209.668 people visited our tours, 1.446 attended the performances of the “documentary theatre berlin”, and our seminars had a total of 409 participants. Additionally, our website registered 1.277.636 visitors. At the end of the year, the association had 407 members.
We would like to wish all of our employees, members, friends, supporters and visitors, who have all played their part in this achievement, a healthy and successful 2011.