A Tour
of some of the scenes
in Stealing the Future
This half-day tour visits some of the main scenes of Stealing the Future. The tour involves walking and using a tram so it’s worth buying a local transport day ticket or hiring a bike.
Walking distance: 1½ Miles (2.2km) in Rummelsburg; an optional ¾ mile (1.25km) near KWO plus ¾ mile (1.25km) in Karlshorst.
Total time: at least 4 hours.
Start: Rummelsburg S-Bahn station.
End: Stasi HQ, near Magdalenenstrasse U-Bahn station.
Accessibility: Almost all of the tour is wheelchair accessible, all stations have lifts and buses and trams are either low-floor level or equipped with ramps. Further details in text.
More details, including maps and downloadable GPX tracks (for walking and cycling) at: www.maxhertzberg.co.uk/tours
Start the tour at Rummelsburg S-Bahn station, exiting at the Hauptstrasse entrance. Cross the main road and tram tracks, and take one of the roads directly opposite.
Rummelsburger See
Accessibility The path along the river promenade is paved, then well packed grit. However at the Knabenhäuser the path goes down a series of shallow steps with a loose sand surface. As an alternative route leave the riverside path just before the steps and turn right into the road running parallel to the river.
The Rummelsburger See is actually a dead arm of the river Spree, which flows through the heart of Berlin. The peninsular opposite was, until the early 1990s, an industrial centre—glass and bottle making along with an asphalt works, a brewery, various factories and ship building were the main activities there. The industrial legacy on both sides of the lake has led to heavy metal and oil contamination of the water, so unfortunately bathing can’t be recommended!
Turn left, following the water’s edge south-east until you are opposite the red brick building on the far bank: the Palm Oil warehouse was built in 1881 to store palm oil for use in food products and to burn in power stations.
On the horizon to your right you can see the Art Nouveau water tower at Ostkreuz station. To the right of the water tower the Television Tower can be seen off in the distance.
Border Troops Barracks
There is a pleasant promenade along the side of the lake, but in Martin’s time it wouldn’t have been possible to walk along the shore—factories, a military camp and a prison lined the edge of this side of the lake. After less than half a mile you’ll get to a visitors’ mooring where pleasure boats can stay for up to 24 hours, and behind that the imposing yellow brick Knabenhäuser, the remains of an orphanage where, until 1949, orphans were held in (by today’s standards) inhumane conditions. By 1960 most of the old buildings had been cleared, and this area became the barracks of the 35th Border Troops Regiment, which patrolled the Berlin Wall where it ran along the left bank of the river Spree. This is the spot at which Martin sits for a while after visiting Chris Fremdiswalde in prison.
Across the water, to the left, you should be able to see the top of the Ferris wheel peeping over the woods of the Plänterwald woods.
Rummelsburg Prison
Just a couple of hundred metres further down the promenade you’ll reach the Rummelsburg Prison, behind a tall row of poplars. The concrete slabs that now make up the river promenade were once part of the guards’ patrol route, with dog kennels on the river-side. The prison was originally built in the 1870s as a workhouse. Although the poor conditions improved slightly during the Weimar period they deteriorated drastically after 1933 when the Nazis gained power.
After the war the bombed-out workhouse was hurriedly repaired and converted into a prison. This place had the dubious honour of being one of the most notorious prisons in the GDR, along with Bautzen, Cottbus and Hohenschönhausen.
Almost all of the prison walls and fences have been removed, leaving only some of the accommodation and work blocks—most of the site has been converted into luxury residences, and the prison hospital is now a bijou Hotel.
You can walk through the prison, and there is an app available with information and pictures of how it looked, along with a suggested tour: www.rummelsburg-app.de/en/
Go right through the prison until you get to the main road on the other side. The old police station (including steel gates) can be seen along to the left. This building now lies empty, the courtyard beyond is hidden by a high wall and grey steel gate—but if you go round the back you can see in through a fence. A row of innocuous looking garages stand to one side of the gate—it was in these garages that hundreds of protesters were beaten and held in stress positions for hours during the fortieth anniversary of the GDR in 1989. The ‘Tiger Cages’ in which Chris Fremdiswalde (along with many political detainees during the history of the GDR) was held are in the basement of the police station.
Tram 21 (every 20 mins) runs along the Hauptstrasse in front of the prison. The prison is halfway between tram stops, so go either way to catch the tram towards S-Bahn Schöneweide.
Rummelsburg Power Station
The tram goes right past the Klingenberg Power Station, which still burns brown coal from the area of West Silesia (Upper Lusatia). The administration building which Martin visited is on the left, just after the tram stop.
Accessibility Although tram 21 is low-floor, not all stops have raised platforms, and not all trams are equipped with ramps—it is therefore possible that there will be a step of up to 20cm at stops in the next section of the tour. It is possible to skip the following section of the tour (KWO) and get off tram at Hegemeisterweg, continuing the tour from end of the section Wuhlheide/Soviet Army Barracks.
KWO
Get off at the stop Wilhelminenhofstr/Edisonstr and walk down the Wilhelminenhofstrasse, past the transformer factory TRO (¾ Mile, 1.25km) to KWO, the cable factory where Chris Fremdiswalde was caught.
If you prefer not to walk you can catch another tram for the couple of stops down the road: tram 27 (every 20 mins) from the same stop you just got off. Alight at Rathenaustr/HTW.
The factory is right by the tram stop. KWO, designed by the famous architect Peter Behrens, and built in 1897 by the Rathenau family, was part of the Electric Oberschöneweide movement which took industry out of the centre of Berlin. After the war KWO became the main factory and administrative centre of the Kombinat KWO “Wilhlem Pieck”. The Combine monopolised cable production in the GDR.
The industrial train track that ran down the right hand side of the road has been taken up, although remains of sidings can be seen in the transformer works next door.
Most of the KWO factory is now a Technical College, and you can freely walk around the campus. Unfortunately the paternoster lift is no longer there, but the corridor where Martin caught up with the injured Chris is now a computer museum and is open to the public.
Wuhlheide and Soviet Army Barracks
Once you’ve had a look around KWO get any tram heading to Köpenick or Krankenhaus Köpenick and get off three stops later at the Freizeit- und Erholungszentrum. Walk down the main drive of the park on the other side of the road, This will take you to the open air stage, built in 1951 for the World Festival of Youth and Students. The park you are in is the Wuhlheide, where Nik met Dmitri. Originally a heath, now mostly wooded, but deep inside is the old Palace of the Pioneers (Palace for the Children), which still has lots of events for younger people, not to mention the narrow gauge park railway that goes through the park, run by children (for the benefit of both children and adults that are still young at heart).
Turn left at the stage (or go back to the stage if you’ve been to look at the Palace, then carry on in the same direction) and after about half a mile you should start seeing cycle route signs on the path. Follow these past the Model Park Berlin-Brandenburg. On the right hand side you’ll see a derelict patch of land—this used to be the barracks of the Soviet Army Berlin Brigades, including tank regiments—the same tanks that were used to crush the 1953 uprising and participated in putting down the Prague S
pring in 1968. There isn’t much to see there now, just some blocks of concrete among the undergrowth, but check out the photographs, taken in 1999, just five years after the Russians left: www.berlinstreet.de/4152
Soviet Army HQ in Berlin
Continue along the path to the main road, and catch the tram M17, 27 or 37 (every few minutes) for the couple of stops to S-Bahnhof Karlshorst (the stop just after you go under the railway bridge).
When you get off the tram at S-Bahnhof Karlshorst, walk back along the road a bit, turning left into Stolzenfelsstrasse. Here you can jump on the bus 296 (every 20 mins, towards S-Bahn Lichtenberg). Get off at Museum Karlshorst—this is the German-Russian Museum (fully accessible), which is in the building where the Germans surrendered to the Red Army in 1945. Next to the museum once stood the main Red Army (later Soviet Army) base in Berlin, where Martin met the Russian major. The site has now been turned into yet another luxurious residential project, but there are photos of the complex from 2012 at: www.abandonedberlin.com/2010/04/soviet-swansong-abandoned-military.html.
(This base shouldn’t be confused with the headquarters of the Western Group of Troops of the Soviet Army, based in Wünsdorf, a train ride south of Berlin. The base in Wünsdorf is also worth a visit, and has a museum).
Friedrichsfelde
Jump back on the bus, heading towards Lichtenberg, and it will take you to Friedrichsfelde U-Bahn station, where you can explore this suburb of Berlin and try to guess where Chris Fremdiswalde had his flat.
Stasi HQ
For the next stage, get the underground to Magdalenenstrasse for the Stasi HQ. Walk up Ruschestrasse and into the complex through the gate on the right hand side. This was the central Stasi base from which General Erich Mielke directed his tentacular secret police. As well as the offices of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Archives there is also a museum (entrance: €5) in the buildings. The museum documents various aspects of the Stasi, and you can visit General Mielke’s offices.
If you wish to learn more about the Stasi a visit to the Hohenschönhausen Stasi Prison is also to be recommended.
The sequel to Stealing the Future will be available in autumn 2016 - see www.maxhertzberg.co.uk for more information.
Stealing the Future Page 23
