The 'Bridge of spies'

Today´s blog is the second part of my short ago started series about bridges and focuses on the 'Glienicker Brücke'. The German word Brücke equals 'bridge' in English and 'Glienicke' refers to the hunting lodge "Kleinglienicke" which became later, after several modifications 'Schloss Glienicke'  but that´s another story.:) 

The bridge is located in the very southeast corner of today Berlin (for the position pls. check out Map of Berlin and its (hi)stories) and connects it with the Brandenburg capital Potsdam. For some decades it was also a border bridge between the two German states.

But let´s start with the beginnings: 

The first bridge

A narrow wood bridge was built around 1660 only for the nobility. They had the exclusive right to cross the bridge as a connection between their palaces in Potsdam and their hunting grounds on the other side of the river. 

In 1754, the bridge was finally opened for a postal connection between Berlin and Potsdam. 

The second bridge

In 1777 it was replaced by another wooden bridge, now with railings on its edges (see [P1]). For crossing it, a toll had to be paid (of course, nobility had exclusive rights again and didn´t have to pay anything:). Guard houses and moveable barriers were placed on its entrances to make sure the toll was paid by everyone. 

Some years later the Prussian king of that time initiated the construction of so-called 'Chaussees' (old-fashioned, originally French name for well built country road) in his kingdom to strenghten its infrastructure. In 1793 Glienicker Brücke became integrated in such a new street connection, the 'Berlin-Potsdamer Chaussee'.  Now the bridge was  part of the main road connection between Berlin and Potsdam. In order to refinance the construction works and the maintenance , Chaussee users generally had to pay a toll which was collected by officials residing in so-called Chaussee houses ('Chaussee-Häuser') next to the roads every some kilometers. At Glienicker Brücke such a house was also erected and fullfilled this function for around 40 years. With the construction works for the replacement of the wood bridge and the extension of the Glienicke Park, it was demolished.

[P1] The Glienicke Bridge with the draw bridge in its middle and the hunting lodge Glienicke, 1788, by Nagel (SPSG Potsdam) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Schinkel´s bridge

The new Glienicke Bridge, now made of stone, was built from 1832 to 1834 (see [P2] and [P3]). It was the work of well-known architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Like its prede- cessor, it had a draw bridge part in its middle. From a rotunda, also built by Schinkel as an extension of the Glienicke park, replacing the demolished Chausseehaus, contemporaries had a view on the driveway of the bridge and to the surrounding landscape.

[P2] 'Glienicke Bridge', drawing by F. A. Borchel, around 1850 . Note the three masts in the background, behind the horse rider, which seem to belong to a big ship next to the river bank: in fact it´s a romantic mock-up in order to please the novelty. It´s not preserved   (source: Schloss Glienicke (book)) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

[P3] Casino and bridge Glienicke ,painting by Franz Xaver Sandmann, around 1845, Franz Xaver Sandmann [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

With the opening of the Teltow Canal in 1906, back then a new important water way which ended in the waters close to the bridge, it became necessary to enable the passage of larger ships. This resulted - in addition to the increasing traffic, the road on the bridge was just six meters wide -  in the demolition of this third Glienicker Brücke, an incident which even at that time let preservationists protest..*

*At this point I would like to give a personal critic: 

I also favor the demolished Schinkel bridge regarding the design, especially because in my eyes its masonry and flatness harmonised much more with its surroundings, namely the Glienicke palace, the Villa Schoeningen and the Babelsberg Palace which are all in sight. Maybe there could have been a more harmonic solution as an answer to the increasing traffic, but the now existing bridge as a symbol of east west separation and reunification deserves to be pre- served anyway. 

The 'Kaiser Wilhelm Brücke' (fortunately the name didn´t gain acceptance)

The new bridge, a suspension-bridge-like steel framework, was erected between 1906 and 1907 by the bridge building company Harkort, based in the German city Duisburg. 

The roadway was now 13m wide accompanied by a 3m wide pedestrian way on both sides (see [P4]).

[P4] The bridge at the beginning of 20.century, colonnades in the foreground, own photo

The opening in the middle for ships was 73 m wide now and the clear height for below the bridge was enlarged so that a draw bridge was not necessary anymore. The whole construction weighted 1,400 tons. On the Potsdam side, two stone colonnades in neo-baroque style were erected [P4] as an entrance to the bridge. In 1908, two artworks of the sculptor Stephan Walter were placed on the Berlin side: Stone Centaurs, mythical creatures of ancient Greece 

(see [P6] foreground). The top of the pylones, carrying the hanging steel construction, were acentuated by little gracile towers. They were removed in the year 1931 in order to simplify the the maintenance and repair. 

Destruction

In 1945 the German troops installed explosive devices on the bridge in order to prevent the Soviet troops to enter Potsdam coming from Berlin Wannsee. Anyway the Soviets came from the Potsdam side already. A Soviet grenade hit some of the explosives which destroyed the middle part of the bridge. After the end of the war the Soviets erected a wooden bridge near the destroyed one making the crossing possible for the Allied military. The reconstruction of the bridge lasted from 1947 to 1949. The steel was heaved out of the river by a lifting system and the construction was renewed and simplified by removing the pedestrian ways on the sides. The bridge was then reopened under the name 'Brücke der Einheit' (German for 'Bridge of unity'). From today´s point of view this sounds really ironic, keeping in mind that here the border between the two German states was situated for around 50 years. 

The 'bridge of spies'

From 1949 on, the border between East and West was located directly in the middle of the bridge, marked by a white line. The Potsdam side was part of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) which was actually everything but demo- cratic and a satellite state of the Soviet Union. The Berlin side was part of 'West-Berlin' which belonged to West Germany and was base to the Western Allies France, 

Great Britain and USA who had their own 'sectors' in the city. Glienicker Brücke was located in the US controlled southwest sector. After being open to public for around 230 years the bridge was again closed. For a long time only military personnel, diplomats and people with special permission were allowed to cross it. In the coming Cold War decades it would gain importance as a place where spies of both sides were exchanged.

 

[P5] The Glienicke Bridge of today, different colors of the steel construction result from use of different paint by East and West German renovation works; By Uwca at German Wikipedia (Self-photographed) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The first exchange took place in 1962: The American pilot Francis Gary Powers, whose U2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot above Soviet Union two years before was exchanged at Glienicker Brücke with the Soviet spy Rudolf Iwanowitsch Abel.

Around 20 years later, in 1985, 23 Western spies were exchanged for 4 Eastern spies.

The third and final exchange took place in 1986: Three Western spies and one oppositional who was accused of spying by the Soviet Union, Anatoli Schtscharanski, were set free for five Eastern spies. The case of Schtscharanski was especially difficult because the Soviets wanted the West to declare he was a spy as a precondition for his release but the Western officials saw him as a political prisoner. In the end the negotiations were successful and he was among the released.

Today

After the fall of the wall, the bridge is again open for everyone and a frequented tourist site. A plaquette on the pedestrian walk marks the former border line. Now the bridge is, similar to the Brandenburg gate in my eyes, again an example for an architecture that is a symbol for connecting people and unification. Since 1990 the bridge is listed as a World Heritage Site.

[P6] The bridge in October 2015, own photo

Preservation

[P7] Northern colonnade, 

with wooden reinforcements

In contrast to the monument´s impor- tance the colonnades on the Potsdam site are partly endangered because the inner static structure is damaged (see [P7], [P8]). Because of that the 'Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz', 
a German foundation for preserving  historical monuments, is collecting money these days.  The southern colonnades were already renewed. The northern part still waits for reno- vation.. Check out the Link to the 'Stiftung' on the right side of this page in case you are interested to learn more or support (site is in German).

Tips 

If you plan a trip to Potsdam and have a bit more time than just to see the city centre it´s a nice opportunity to drop by at Glienicker Brücke in addition to for example a visit to Villa Schöningen (Spy museum) or the Glienicke Palace. Another highlight, fitting to the bridge site: Cecilienhof Palace nearby in which the Western powers´ (Stalin, Churchill, Truman) Potsdam Conference took place.

Last but not least: The movie of Steven Spielberg, 'Bridge of spies' could be interesting to view in cinemas in the coming days.

[P8] Colonnades on Potsdam side, the one on the right already renovated, own photo

Oberbaum and Unterbaum...

Oberbaumbrücke,  by Sarah Jane at Flickr (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Today´s blog should start a little series about the bridges in Berlin.
What first came to my mind was the Oberbaumbrücke and the Glienicker Brücke, both important in Berlin´s history though with a quiet different past. There are actually around 2100 bridges in Berlin and I will just give a personal overview about some of them which I believe are very interesting. I will also recommend visits in some cases :)
By the way, the number of bridges is much higher than i.e. in Venice: There you just find 410 bridges. See the link (in German): http://www.zeit.de/2002/34/200234_stimmts_bruecken.xml

So let´s start with the Oberbaumbrücke (Oberbaum bridge) or, to be more exact, with its related history..
For that I go back to medieval Berlin. Back then the city actually consisted of two originally independent settlements - Berlin and Cölln - which had agreed to unite and to have a common administration together. These two were placed opposite to each other on the banks of the river Spree and were enclosed by a common city wall with water ditches. Probably having been a wooden palisade in the beginning, it was first changed to a stone wall consisting of fieldstones and was reinforced by bricks during the 13. century. There were only two big gaps inside these walls, marked by the river Spree: One at its entry point at the southeast end of the so called Spreeinsel and one at its leaving point in the northwest of the city about where the Rathausbrücke of today is situated*.  Making sure that there was no ship entering or leaving without having paid the tolls, these two places were fortified by oak piles in the river Spree just leaving narrow passages. Each of the two passages could be closed by a tree trunk ( 'tree' equals the German word 'Baum'). This trunk was called 'Oberbaum' ( equals 'upper tree') at the Spree´s entry point and 'Unterbaum' ('lower tree') at its northwestern leaving point. Due to the extension of the city and the construction of the so called 'Zollmauer' (= 'toll wall') from 1735 onwards, the river´s entry point to the city and with it the 'Oberbaum' as well became the area between Schlesisches and Stralauer Tor far more east to the city center and now the location of the Oberbaum Bridge of today. So that´s how the Oberbaumbrücke got its name. 
The first Oberbaum bridge at this place was wooden. Construction for the bridge of today was started in the late 19th century and the magistrate of Berlin and the city council members wanted a representative 'gate' to the city. Furthermore a high line of the Berlin U-Bahn crossing the Spree at this place was supposed to be integrated in the planning. The outcome was a bridge with much reference to the history of Berlin Brandenburg architecture with its two brick towers and an arcade carrying the rails of the train line. This 'water gate' marked by the two towers may also led to the nearby club´s name Watergate which is a famous part of Berlin nightlife. 
But back to the bridge: Being heavily damaged in the Second World War, it was just left as a ruin and marked the border of the two German states until 1990.  
From then on it was reconstructed, the railroad was rebuilt and modern elements were added by architect Santiago Calatrava. Especially in the center of the bridge his new steel structure between the towers, bearing the rails, marks a 'gate' to the city as it once was meant to.

PS: In my opinion it´s an interesting coincidence that Santiago Calatrava renewed the Oberbaumbrücke and additionally built another totally new bridge in the city center quite where the Unterbaum used to be in former times:)

So that was my first blog entry about the bridges in Berlin - I hope u liked it - pls leave your comment respectively like this post, follow the blog publish it on twitter or just take a look again next time..

*Note: I integrated a map on this website now, there you can find all the locations of places and landmarks which are discussed here and a short info about them by clicking on the object symbols... I will add further sites in the future there, according to future posts... enjoy:)