Marienfelde
Encyclopedia
Marienfelde is a locality in southwest Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. It is a mixed industrial and residential area, and part of the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg
Tempelhof-Schöneberg
Tempelhof-Schöneberg is the seventh borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former boroughs of Tempelhof and Schöneberg.-Geography:...

.

Transportation and industry

Transportation and industry have played an important role in the development of Marienfelde.

The Prussian military railway, the Königlich Preußische Militäreisenbahn, passed through the Marienfelde area on its way from Berlin to the town of Zossen
Zossen
Zossen is a German town in the district of Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg, south of Berlin, and next to the B96 highway. Zossen consists of several smaller municipalities, which were grouped together in 2003 to form the city.-Geography:...

. Between 1901 and 1904, the track was electrified and used as test track for high-speed locomotive testing. Ten kilovolt, three-phase alternating current with a frequency of 50 hertz was transmitted over three overhead wires, strung one above the other. Experimental electrical locomotives reached speeds of up to 210.8 km/h (131 mph) on the track.

Near the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, as part of the Elbe-Project, the world's first high-voltage direct current transmission lines were built from a power plant in Dessau
Dessau
Dessau is a town in Germany on the junction of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it is part of the merged town Dessau-Roßlau. Population of Dessau proper: 77,973 .-Geography:...

, on the Elbe river, to Marienfelde. A substation was located in Marienfelde converted the direct current into alternating current. However, developments in the war prevented the project from ever becoming operational.

Today, Marienfelde is the location of a number of important industries, including a Daimler AG assembly plant. The main North-South rail line entering Berlin also passes through Marienfelde.

Refugee processing center

Marienfelde is also known for a large refugee processing center which operated during the cold war. The center, which opened in 1953, was the first stop for more than 1.5 million refugees fleeing communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

 in East Germany via West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...

. Refugees arriving in West Berlin were sent to the center where they received medical treatment, food, identification papers, and housing until they could be permanently re-settled in the West.

Even after the fall of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...

in 1989, the center continued processing East German refugees until unification a year later. Today the center remains in use, processing ethnic Germans who are immigrating to Germany from the former Soviet Union.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK