By Oliver Ohmann
In June 2012, a wasteland became a pleasure garden. The 30-hectare park at the Gleisdreieck opened ten years ago. Pure relaxation on the border of Schöneberg and Kreuzberg.
Anne lives right on the edge of the park. The 41-year-old can still remember exactly what the huge area used to look like. “Terrible, everything wild and confused. The site was fenced off, but of course you could get in somehow.”
The idea of building a park on the old railway site came up in the 1970s. But it was not realized until two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In 2009 excavators moved in and transformed the fallow land at the Gleisdreieck into a green park Photo: ddp
Suzon (29) waits tables in the “Tor Eins” café: “We always have a lot going on on Sundays” Photo: Christian Lohse
Since imperial times, the area has belonged to the Anhalter and Potsdam freight yards. After the war and the building of the wall came the fallow land.
Rail tracks became track wilderness. Many remnants of transport history can still be found in the park today. The ICE route disappears in the middle of the park in the north-south tunnel. A staircase at the mouth of the tunnel connects the two parts of the park.
Traffic junction of the metropolis: The Gleisdreieck shortly before its opening. The photo was taken in 1901 Photo: dpa picture alliance
50 years ago an old wagon became a bazaar at the Gleisdreieck. Recording from the 1980s Photo: dpa picture alliance
30,000 people live in the immediate vicinity of this relaxation oasis. More than 90 percent of park visitors live in Berlin, according to a new study commissioned by Grün Berlin. Tourists get lost more easily in the Tiergarten. In addition, two-thirds of all visitors are younger than 40 years old, several times a week and have been for years.
Klara (5), Flora (3) and Maya (6) are chilling in the hammock between two park trees Photo: Christian Lohse
The park area is the size of 42 soccer fields and is open 24 hours a day. There are lawns, beach volleyball courts, basketball courts, table tennis tables and a skate rink. You can train your muscles, jog, scooter, cycle, play boules or just have a picnic.
Now and then there were ugly scenes. Around 2021 in a mass brawl among 500 young people and adults. Police officers were also attacked and pelted with stones and bottles. But now June is supposed to be a peaceful celebration.
Skater Dominic (22) trains on the rink: “I’ve been here since 2014, almost every day” Photo: Christian Lohse
Valery enjoys the sun on an old railway track in Gleisdreieck Park: “I’m here as often as possible” Photo: Christian Lohse
The park offers a full program for the whole family over the next few weeks. With lots of music, interesting guided tours and street dance spectacles.
Info at: parkamgleisdreieck.de/10-years
The ICE runs straight through the park into a tunnel and the subway on elevated stilts Photo: Christian Lohse