Subject: Re: East Berlin border posts<br/>
Date: Mar 09, 2005 @ 03:27<br/>
Author: L. A. Nadybal (&quot;L. A. Nadybal&quot; &lt;lnadybal@...&gt;)<br/>
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<div id="ygrps-yiv-1369286655">I think you owe a lady a meal.<br/>
<br/>
I have a map of E Berlin from the DDR side, and it lists crossing<br/>
points, and doesn&#39;t have Alexanderplatz listed.  <br/>
<br/>
I have a news article from a W. German newspaper about how the U-Bahn<br/>
passed under it, but how as a westerner you couldn&#39;t get up to the<br/>
ground level even though the trains stopped there.   If I recall the<br/>
article correctly, it was about Alexanderplatz and there were W.<br/>
German customs problems at the station, because it was in the East,<br/>
accessible only from W stations N and S of it.  A lot of trade<br/>
occurred with regime-trusted E German &quot;business people&quot; sent down<br/>
there to sell.   Their customers would buy and then have Western goods<br/>
confiscated or they were fined for customs import violation when they<br/>
got back on the trains after making their tax-free purchases, and rode<br/>
to the next station (back into the west). The article made it clear<br/>
there was no crossing point.  Even though, technically, W people<br/>
making the trip &quot;under&quot; E. Berlin could get off and walk around, but<br/>
only on the station platform.  I do not know if Eastern European<br/>
nationals from the Ostblock could enter the DDR there.  I understood<br/>
that they could vacation freely, just not in the west.  Those who did<br/>
have permission to travel in the West may well have been able to enter<br/>
back into the East block at Alexanderplatz.  The list shows only<br/>
Germans could enter at Freidrichstr., and only on foot.   <br/>
<br/>
Naturally, before the wall went up, you could get off the trains at<br/>
Alexanderplatz with no problem - there was free going back and forth<br/>
everywhere.  <br/>
<br/>
If you need proof, I can scan and send you the section off the DDR <br/>
pamphlet with the map that lists only three post-wall crossing points.<br/>
 I have a map showing pre-wall sector crossing points, and they are<br/>
numerous.<br/>
<br/>
Regards<br/>
<br/>
LN <br/>
<br/>
 <br/>
<br/>
<blockquote><span title="qreply"> --- In <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="mailto:BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com">BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com</a>, &quot;lacomaco&quot; &lt;finance@l...&gt; wrote:<br/>
&gt; <br/>
&gt; Hi all,<br/>
&gt; <br/>
&gt; this might be off-topic, but I was making a bet with a lady about <br/>
&gt; the border crossings between East and West Berlin before 1989. If I <br/>
&gt; lose, I have to take her to a very expensive restaurant so I wonder <br/>
&gt; who could help me to find the list of border posts where Germans <br/>
&gt; (East and West) were allowed to cross in Berlin.<br/>
&gt; <br/>
&gt; The lady hotly contests me remembering that it was possible to walk <br/>
&gt; up at Alexanderplatz, and not only at Checkpoint Charlie and <br/>
&gt; Friedrichstrasse.<br/>
&gt; <br/>
&gt; Thanks in advance<br/>
&gt; <br/>
&gt; Laszlo Kiss<br/>
&gt; Budapest </span></blockquote></div>