Interzonal traffic

Inter-zonal trafficwas the cross-border traffic between thefour designated garrison zonesinGermanybetween 1945 and 1973 that were created in 1945 by the victors of theSecond World War.

History

Following the military occupation of Germany in May 1945, civilians were initially only allowed to leave their place of residence or its immediate vicinity with a permit from the garrison authority of their zone. By June 1945, thebusandtrainservice within the respective garrison zones had been resumed on many stretches. However, the public train service did not run between the garrison zones. Nevertheless, there were numerous travelers who crossed the extensive uncontrolled boundaries between the garrison zones on foot, bybicycleor byhitch-hiking.

On June 30, 1946, the boundary between the Soviet garrison zone and the Western garrison zones (the American, British and French zones) was blocked. The Soviet military administration in Germany (SMAD) had previously asked the Allies to secure the line of demarcation to the Western zones. A specialidentification card,theInter-zones Travel Passport(Germany), known as the inter-zones passport, was introduced by the Allies. This had to be applied for by citizens wishing to travel in occupied Germany.

The passport was valid for 30 days and only valid for travel between zones within Germany. On July 23, 1946, all restrictions on travel between the British and the American garrison zone were canceled (in preparation for theBizone). In August 1948 the French zone joined the Bizone to become theTrizone.On July 13, 1948, theSoviet Military Administration in Germany(SMAD) issued a decree that travelers between the Western garrison zones and the Soviet garrison zone would also need a residence permit of the Soviet garrison zone in addition to the inter-zones passport.

As of November 14, 1953, theFederal Republic of Germanyagreed with the Western Allies to abandon boundary inspection controls for inter-zone traffic. On November 25, 1953, the inter-zones passport was abolished because theGDRgovernment also stopped checking it. GDR inhabitants now had to apply for a departure permit if they wished to leave the zone's boundary. About 4% of GDR citizens traveled into the West with permission but did not return again.

Once theBerlin Wallwas built, it became yet substantially more difficult to obtain a departure permit. Except for business trips, only pensioners with family matters to attend to were able to travel into the West and only for a limited amount of time.

Trains

On August 5, 1945, the first goods train went out of theRuhr ValleytoBerlin.The non-stop passenger service, however, did not run until May 1946. The first (and until 1949 only) inter-zones express train, which was reserved exclusively for foreign travelers, ran between Berlin andOsnabrück.

Berlin blockade

The railroad traffic between Berlin and the Western zones was interrupted between April 22, 1948, and May 12, 1949, allegedly due to structural work, but in fact because of theBerlin Blockadecrisis. Because the single express train route in inter-zonal traffic (FD 111/112) betweenCologneand Berlin was permanently overburdened, five additional express train routes started to run over the German domestic boundary on September 10, 1949:

• FD 1/2 between Berlin andFrankfurt am Main
• FD 63/64 between Berlin andHamburg
• FDt 65/66 as an express train between Berlin and Hamburg
• FD 109/110 as a second train route between Berlin and Cologne
• FD 149/150 between Berlin andMunich

Road traffic

On August 25, 1946, an inter-zones bus connection was opened between Berlin andHanover.However the bus traffic was interrupted again and again through political crises. For example, theErfurttransport company had to stop interzone bus transport, which was also used to obtain spare parts, in 1953.

Air traffic

There was no regular air traffic between the Western zones and the Soviet garrison zone. The first domestic air route was only set up byLufthansaon August 10, 1989, between Frankfurt am Main andLeipzig.However, several foreign airlines (notablyPan AmandAir Berlin) were permitted to provide service (calledInter-German Service) between West Berlin and several West German cities.