Görlitzer Park

Görlitzer Park
Bird's-eye view of the park
Type Urban park
Location Kreuzberg, Berlin
Coordinates 52°29′47″N 13°26′16″E / 52.49639°N 13.43778°E / 52.49639; 13.43778Coordinates: 52°29′47″N 13°26′16″E / 52.49639°N 13.43778°E / 52.49639; 13.43778
Area 14 hectares (35 acres)
Created 1980s
Status Open year-round

Görlitzer Park (nicknamed "Görli") is a major park and recreation area in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg. The 14-hectare park area contains, among other things, a petting zoo, several sports and football fields, and a small lake.[1][2][3] At its north-west end is the Görlitzer Bahnhof U-Bahn station.

History

The last train track, May 1987
Former freight train gate and GDR border checkpoint.

The original Görlitzer Bahnhof suffered heavy damage during the Battle of Berlin. The last passenger train services to operate through the station ended on April 29, 1951. Demolition of the site took place on 24 October 1962, at the behest of former Berlin mayor, Rolf Schwedler (SPD), despite protests by many residents.

In the postwar period, the site was used as a coal depot. Until 1985, freight trains still operated through the Görlitzer Bahnhof train lines, supplying nearby storage sheds and a junkyard on the station grounds. During the division of Berlin, a border crossing was erected on the bridge over the Landwehr canal to control the passage of these freight trains. The remains of this border crossing are still visible today, as are a short piece of track to the east of the canal bridge and two former freight sheds still remain from the former station.

Görlitzer Park is widely known as a hotspot for purchasing cannabis.[4][5]

Park conception

In the early 1980s, a civil and squatter movement began pushing for the creation of a "Görlitzer City Park" on the site of the old Bahnhof. In the spring of 1983, a program of "greening" of the area was scheduled:

"The northern part of the area, from Görlitzer Ufer along Görlitzer Straße to the Fatih Mosque, could at least provisionally be greened. ‘For the development of vegetation, a design hasn't been agreed upon. [...] That's why the citizens do not need to get involved.' (Parks Department) "

— - Südost Express: Wunder dauern etwas länger (Miracles take a little longer), 7-8 / 1982

At this time, the soil at the site of a former scrap metal compactor was heavily contaminated with oil and needed to be replaced, and an area of the future park was still being used as a coal depot. However, the Reichsbahn management proved to be supportive of the park plans and "Cheerfully developed a children's petting zoo on the southern track. Material and feed donations from surrounding industries flowed in abundantly, and bulldozers from a local cement plant came by occasionally to donate topsoil. Only the money to lease the land was still lacking.[6]

Final approval from the Environment and Finance Senators was still pending at that time.

Children's playground

According to the Südost Express, “the district office of Kreuzberg had already rented the 4000 square meter site,” by 1979, as part of the initiative by the Verein SO 36. However, the building authorities wanted to use the site to construct a Spreewald-Bad swimming pool complex. "More than 1000 signatures have been collected so far for this playground. [...] (After negotiations) the district office will seek to find a solution that makes both the building project and a children's playground possible on the Görlitzer Bahnhof site."[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Görlitzer Park". Berlin.de. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  2. ↑ Ternieden, Hendrik; Roth, Anna-Lena (September 12, 2013). "Drugs in Berlin: Greens Push Weed Legalization in Park". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  3. ↑ Paterson, Tony (7 December 2014). "Kreuzberg: Berlin's hip district becomes a battleground between dealers and gentrification". The Independent. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "How to buy weed in Berlin". Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  5. ↑ Popp, Maximilian (2013-03-30). "ASYL: Endstation Görli". Der Spiegel. 14. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  6. ↑ "Görlitzer Stadtpark rückt näher". Südost Express – Die Kreuzberger Lokalzeitung von Bürgern aus SO 36. August 1982.
  7. ↑ "Kinderspielplatz auf dem Görlitzer Bahnhofsgelände". Südost-Express. December 1979.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.