In April 1945, as the Red Army was closing its grip on Berlin, coming closer and closer to Hitler’s last refuge under the Chancellery gardens, one of his favourite pilots managed to fly a small aeroplane into the burning capital and land it near Brandenburg Gate. On board she carried a wounded future head of the Nazi Luftwaffe.
Aircraft Capitan Hanna Reitsch. Here is the story of her remarkable Berlin coup. And of her post-war denial.
EPISODE 8 DEATH AND RAILWAYS: THE CEMETERY AT POTSDAMER BAHNHOF – Berlin Companion Podcast
Last week we talked about the long-vanished cemetery railway line which connected Berlin-Wannsee with Germany's second largest burial site, Berlin's Südwestfriedhof Stahnsdorf. This episode remains in the realm of both the dead and the railways but with a serious shift towards Berlin's centre. This time we are travelling to the first half of the eighteenth century and will take it from there until we have reached (and left) one of Berlin's best-known railway termini, Potsdamer Bahnhof. To see images of the old Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof visit:File:M Dreifaltigkeitskirche Berlin 1910.jpg – Wikimedia CommonsView of the church seen from Mohrenstraße looking west over Zietenplatz (Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1982-1213-508 / CC-BY-SA 3.0) – Wikipedia To see photos of the first and the second Potsdamer Bahnhof look here:First Potsdamer Bahnhof on a 1843 steel engraving by C Schulin after a drawing by E. Henning and in 1850 by an unknown author (both images in PD) 1890 Potsdamer Bahnhof with the cemetery before it (image in PD, here via Bildindex and Wikipedia)You can see the exact position of the cemetery on the historic 1846 Berlin map here:Kreuzberged – Berlin Companion Sounds:Main theme: “Assembly Line Frustration" © Ionics Music | TerraSound.deVia Freesound:"Bells and religious hymn on the top of "Dell'Avocata" mountain" by Felix Blume"Train Stopping" by Vlatko Blazek via Freesound"Gates of Heaven" by Theo Ther via Freesound"Wales Steam-train" by Jrosin via Freesoundbbc_animals–f_07028130 via BBC Sound EffectsSupport the showYou can read fascinating stories about Berlin's past and present, as well as listen to all the episodes from Season 1 of the podcast at: Kreuzberged: Berlin Companion | BerlinCompanion: Kreuzberged | Substack (theberlincompanion.com) KREUZBERGED – BERLIN COMPANION – Everything You Never Knew You Wanted to Know About Berlin Social Media contact: Berlin Companion twitter.com/kreuzberged Berlin Companion @berlincompanion.bsky.social The Berlin Companion on Instagram The Berlin Companion Audio-Tours coming soon!
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