The Friedrichstraße Station located on the Friedrichstraße in Berlin, was built in 1878 but first opened to the public on 7 February 1882. The station functioned as a central commercial attraction in the day, and had a thriving nightlife which included cafes, cabarets, theatres and more.[1] This idea of the public imagination continued into the First World War, although the train station functioned as a new means to transport soldiers to the war. As Zitzlsperger notes in his description of the station, "for them such depictions express the modernity of Berlin – iron and glass were the new building materials that facilitate eye-catching architecture..."[2] During the Second World War however, the station was almost destroyed as it was in the middle of Berlin that was raided and overtaken in the early years. In the years to follow, the station was divided by the Berlin Wall, and people deemed it 'an absurd train station', but the station continued to function.[3] Not only did the railway station maintain its original function, but it was modernized as well to include shopping centres. In 1999, shopping centres were built on a sector of the original train station, however on other sectors, the train remains running.[4] The public's imaginations were centralized around this train station due to its unique features and popularity. In 2008 there was a statue added to the station to commemorate the Jewish children who had been part of the kindertransport rescues during the Second World War and also contains a museum that tells the story of Germany divided[5] Since then, the street Friedrichstraße along the train station has become one of the most popular high branded shopping centres in Berlin.[6]

This destination is the first stop on the Cruel Childhood: the Experiences of Youth Minorities in Nazi Berlin Walking Tour.

However, the luxuries of the train station were not the only main attraction, as it was given a significant historical commemoration during the Second World War that involved the process of kindertransport. Kindertransport during the Second World War was the process of removing Jewish children from an occupied state, in this case Berlin, and transport them to Britain for safety. Once in Britain, they were given a safe place to live and educational resources to continue their schooling as it was discussed in "Arrangement of Transports"[7] There is some speculation about whether or not the kindertransport was a positive rescue effort as children were being taken from their parents and at the time, never realized they would not see their parents again.[8] While kindertransport was a positive resistance movement, there are other aspects involving the children and their general spirits. These children had no idea what was to come in a new country, or how their lives would play out without being able to choose where they were going and leaving a home they had known their whole lives. Much like the case at Anhalter-Bahnof, more times than not children may not have been made aware that they were leaving their parents until at the train station.[9] There was an account of a man named Paul Alexander, who returned to the station's memorial on the 80^th anniversary as a survivor of the transports that took place from this train station. Paul participated in a bike ride that began at the Friedrichstraße station and went to London as a memorial, and he was the only participant that was actually part of kindertransport.[10] The bike rides that Paul and others took part in serves as part of the ideology in preserving the memories of the children that were taken out of the country before the Second World War for their own safety. The goal of the Friedrichstraße Station stop on this walking tour is to recognize the importance in keeping the memories of the resistance movement that saved thousands of children's lives.

"Arrangement of Transports" British Foreign Office. 23 November 1938.

Hodge, Deborah. Rescuing the Children: The Story of the Kindertransport. Toronto: Tundra Books, 2012.

Miriam Karout – Associated Press. 2018. "Cyclists Retrace Jewish Child Refugees' Journey to Britain." AP Top News Package. Associated Press DBA Press Association.

Zitzlsperger, Ulrike C. 2016. "Reading Across Cultures: Global Narratives, Hotels and Railway Stations." Fudan Journal of the Humanities & Social Sciences 9 (2): 193-211.

[1] Ulrike, C. Zitzlsperger, "Reading Across Cultures: Global Narratives, Hotels and Railway Stations." 2016. 196.

[2] Zitzlsperger, "Reading Across Cultures", 197-198.

[3] Ibid, 200.

[4] Friedrichstraße: Berlin's main shopping street, https://www.visitberlin.de/en/friedrichstrasse

[5] Miriam Karout "Cyclists Retrace Jewish Child Refugees." 2018.

[6] Friedrichstraße: Mitte District https://www.berlin.de/en/shopping/shopping-streets/1761655-5123158 friedrichstrasse.en.html

[7] "Arrangement of Transports" British Foreign Office. 23 November 1938.

[8] Deborah Hodge. Rescuing the Children: The Story of the Kindertransport. 2012. 5.

[9] Rebekka Gopfert, and Andrea Hammel, 2004. "Kindertransport: History and Memory." 21.

[10] Miriam Karout "Cyclists Retrace Jewish Child Refugees." 2018.