Paradestraße is a

Berlin U-Bahn The Berlin U-Bahn (; short for , "underground railway") is a rapid transit system in Berlin, the capital and largest city of Germany, and a major part of the city's public transport system. Together with the S-Bahn, a network of suburban tra ...

station on the line. It was opened in 1927 as ''Flughafen'' (airport) and at that time provided the world's first direct connection between a metro system and an airport (

Tempelhof Airport Berlin Tempelhof Airport (german: Flughafen Berlin-Tempelhof) was one of the first airports in Berlin, Germany. Situated in the south-central Berlin borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg, the airport ceased operating in 2008 amid controversy, leav ...

History

The station opened on 10 September 1927, taking over as the southern terminus of the north-south line from ''Kreuzberg'', now Platz der Luftbrücke. It remained the terminus until 1929, when the extension reached

Tempelhof Tempelhof () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of the former Tempelhof Airport, one of the earliest commercial airports in the world. The former airport and surroundings are now a park called ...

. As indicated by its original name, Flughafen, it was intended to provide direct access to

. The platform is broad and four of the stairs from it led to a large mezzanine from which two exits led into the airport terminal building.Der Tempelhofer Abzweig der Nord-Süd-Bahn
, Berliner Untergrundbahn.de This was the world's first direct airport-underground railway connection. However, the airport was rebuilt in the 1930s, both because it proved too small and because part of Hitler's plan for converting Berlin into

Welthauptstadt Germania Welthauptstadt Germania () or World Capital Germania was the projected renewal of the German capital Berlin during the Nazi period, part of Adolf Hitler's vision for the future of Nazi Germany after the planned victory in World War II. It ...

was for the main entrance to the airport to be aligned with the triumphal arch on the North-South Axis. The station was no longer in the correct position and in January 1937 was renamed Paradestraße; the Kreuzberg station became the new connection between the U-Bahn and the airport and was renamed Flughafen. The eastern exits at Paradestraße, which had led to the former terminal, were sealed and the mezzanine reduced in size. The

Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe The (German: 'Berlin Transport Company') is the main public transport company of Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It manages the city's underground railway, tram, bus, replacement services (, EV) and ferry networks, but not the urban r ...

(Berlin Transport) used the closed-off portion as a shooting gallery. On 28/29 January 1944, there was a direct hit in the ceiling of the platform hall. The ceiling collapses on 29 April 1944, this is the second ceiling opening in this station. The damage to the track and station facilities is now so sustainable that an orderly underground operation is no longer possible even in the longer term. At some stations, the subway can no longer hold or some routes are so destructive that the operation had to be completely shut down. In 1946 the city planned to rename the station again, to Franz-Werfel-Straße, and even made the change on street maps, but it was never actually changed. In the early 1990s, one of the two remaining stairways from the street to the station was replaced with a lift, leaving only one exit in case of fire. The station now again has 2 stairways in addition to a lift. The extension of the line south to Kreuzberg and Flughafen, and later beyond, was originally known as C II. In 1966 it became known as Line 6 and in 1986 as U6.

Design

The station was designed by

Alfred Grenander Alfred Frederik Elias Grenander (26 June 1863 – 14 March 1931) was a Swedish architect, who became one of the most prominent engineers during the first building period of the Berlin U-Bahn network in the early twentieth century. Biography Gr ...

and was originally sandy-coloured.Robert Schwandl, ''Berlin U-Bahn-Album: alle 192 Untergrund- und Hochbahnhöfe in Farbe'', Berlin: MetroPlanet, 2002,

Around 1992, it was retiled in small white tiles with multicoloured accents representing the colours of all the Berlin U-Bahn lines, making it one of the most colourful stations in the system.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paradestrasse (Berlin U-Bahn) U6 (Berlin U-Bahn) stations Berlin U-Bahn stations located underground Buildings and structures in Tempelhof-Schöneberg Railway stations in Germany opened in 1927