Glienicke Bridge

Glienicke Bridge Glienicker Brücke
Glienicke Bridge connectingPotsdamandBerlin,seen fromBabelsberg Park
Coordinates	52.413431°N 13.090114°E/52.413431; 13.090114
Carries	Bundesstraße 1
Crosses	Havel River
Begins	Wannsee
Ends	Potsdam
Other name(s)	Bridge of Spies
Named for	Glienicke Palace
Website	www.glienicke-bridge
History
Opened	1907
Location

TheGlienicke Bridge(‹See Tfd›German:Glienicker Brücke,) is abridgeacross theHavel RiverinGermany,connecting theWannseedistrict ofBerlinwith theBrandenburgcapitalPotsdam.It is named after nearbyGlienicke Palace.The current bridge, the fourth on the site, was completed in 1907, although major reconstruction was necessary after it was damaged duringWorld War II.

During theCold War,as this portion of the Havel River formed the border betweenWest BerlinandEast Germany,the bridge was used several times for the exchange of captured spies and thus became known as theBridge of Spies.

Location

Glienicke Bridge, looking east

The bridge spans theHavelnarrows between theJungfernsee(lake) to the north and the Glienicker Lake to the south. It carries theBundesstraße 1highway. The Glienicke Palace andJagdschloss Glienickeare situated (across the highway from each other) near the east (Berlin) end of the bridge.Potsdam tram route93 fromPotsdam main stationandBerlin bus route316 fromWannsee stationterminate and interconnect at a tram stop on the Potsdam end of the bridge. The respective Potsdam and Wannsee stations are served by theBerlin S-Bahnand by longer distance trains.

History

Glienicke Bridge, painting by Franz Xaver Sandmann, 1845

A first wooden bridge across the Havel River at this location was built about 1660, in order to reach the hunting grounds aroundStolpe.By the early 1800s, a new, non-wooden bridge was needed to accommodate the massive increase in traffic on thechausseebetween thePrussiancapital Berlin and theHohenzollernresidence in Potsdam. The architectKarl Friedrich Schinkeldesigned a brick and woodbascule bridge,which was finished in 1834. By the early 20th century, Schinkel's bridge was no longer able to handle the increased volume in traffic, and operating the moveable sections of the bridge caused delays in steamer traffic on the Havel River.

In 1904, the Prussian government held a design competition to replace Schinkel's bridge with a modern, iron bridge. The Johann Caspar Harkort Company of Duisburg submitted the winning design, and the present-day bridge was inaugurated on 16 November 1907.

The German film studioUFAshot the filmUnter den Brücken(Under the Bridges) at the Glienicke Bridge in 1944 and 1945. At the end of April 1945, an unexploded shell severely damaged the bridge. The reconstruction of the steel bridge was not completed until 1949, after the establishment ofWest GermanyandEast Germany.The East German government named it the “Bridge of Unity" as the border between East Germany and Western Allied-occupiedWest Berlinran across the middle of the bridge.

Cold War

During the early years of the Cold War, the bridge was mainly used by the Allies as a link between their Berlin sections and themilitary liaison missionsin Potsdam. German residents of the two cities more frequently used theS-Bahnsuburban rail to travel between Berlin and Potsdam. On 27 May 1952, East German authorities closed the bridge to citizens of West Berlin and West Germany. The bridge was closed to East German citizens after the construction of theBerlin Wallin August 1961. Only Allied military personnel and foreign diplomats were allowed to access the bridge at any time.

Of all the checkpoints between West Berlin and East Berlin, as well as those between West Berlin and East Germany, the Glienicke Bridge had the uniqueness of being the only such checkpoint of not only having a Soviet presence, but also of being under full Soviet control; all other checkpoints were under East German control, and had no Soviet presence.

By the 1970s, the bridge had outlived its projected lifespan and needed significant repairs. The cost of these repairs became a focus of a dispute between the government of West Berlin and the government of East Germany. In 1980 the West Berlin government repaired its half of the bridge, and in 1985 the West Berlin government paid for repairs to the East German half of the bridge in exchange for formally renaming the bridge "Glienicke Bridge" from "Bridge of Unity."

On the evening of 10 November 1989, one day after the opening of the Berlin Wall, the Glienicke Bridge was reopened for pedestrians. Border fortifications and barricades were dismantled as a part of German reunification in 1990.

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  Ministerial meeting on the West German side in 1962
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  East German border crossing, 1987
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  Lining up to cross the bridge after theFallof theBerlin Wallin November 1989
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  Midpoint of the Glienicke Bridge; site of East/West prisoner exchanges
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  Glienicke Bridge midpoint
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  Sign commemorating the bridge's position on the internal border

Bridge of Spies

Because the Glienicke Bridge was a restricted border crossing between theEastern Bloc(namely Potsdam in East Germany) and territory affiliated with theWestern powers(namely the American sector of West Berlin).Americans and Soviets used it for the exchange of capturedspiesduring theCold War,with the bridge directly controlled, not by theGDR,but by the Soviet Union.Reporters began calling it the "Bridge of Spies."When this name was later used as the title for various works, it was often taken to be a pun on "bridge of sighs" a name applied first to thebridge in Veniceand then to others.

The firstprisoner exchangetook place on 10 February 1962.The Americans releasedRudolf Abel,convicted for spying for the Soviet Union in 1957, in exchange forGary Powers,the pilot of aU-2 spy plane shot down in 1960.

When US military attacheArthur D. Nicholsonwas shot by a Soviet sentry in March 1985, his body was returned to the US Army at the Glienicke Bridge.

On 12 June 1985, there was a swap of 23 American agents held inEastern Europefor Polish agentMarian Zacharskiand another three Soviet agents arrested in the West. The exchange was the result of three years of negotiation.

The final exchange was also the most public. On 11 February 1986 thehuman rightscampaigner (refusenik) and political prisonerAnatoly Shcharansky(now known as Natan Sharansky) and three Western agents were exchanged forKarl Koecherand four other Eastern agents.

In popular culture

Glienicke Bridge during filming ofBridge of Spies(2015)

The Glienicke Bridge as a venue for prisoner exchange has appeared frequently in fiction, for example in the 1966Harry Palmerfilm,Funeral in Berlin,based on the novel of the same name byLen Deighton.

The popular nickname "Bridge of Spies" was used by the British bandT'Pauas the name of the title track on their firstalbum.The usage is metaphorical, referring to a "walk to freedom" but in the context of a long-dreamt-of relationship.

The bridge is referenced in the children's TV seriesCodename: Kids Next Door,specifically when a bridge in a local mall is used to exchange a spy from the KND in return for a spy from the Teenagers, a parody of real-life prisoner exchanges.

There is a brief reference to the bridge in the sixth episode of the first season ofArcher,when Mallory Archer and her long-time lover (and head of the KGB) Major Nikolai Jakov mention meeting there "one moonlit night" when they both worked on covert operations in Berlin, presumably during the Cold War.

The 2015 filmBridge of Spies,directed bySteven Spielbergand starringTom Hanks,features the Powers–Abel prisoner exchange on the bridge as a major plot element.

Though the bridge is not named, it is spoofed in the 1971 filmTo Catch a Spyby replacing the bridge with a body of frozen water. Half way across, one of the persons being exchanged breaks through the ice and drowns.

Gallery

• 
  View from Potsdam
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  Another view to Potsdam
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  View from Potsdam through Jungfernsee
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  Arches
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  View of the bridge from a ship
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  Centaur sculpture by Stephan Walter (1908)
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  Russian graffiti of 1968
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  Plaque to remember the division of Germany until 1989
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  Car, torch, and candle lights on Glienicke Bridge, August 13, 2010
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  Deutsche Poststamp of 1998
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  Map of bridge, lakes, and Klein Glienicke (1921, Baedeker)

See also

• Bridge of No Return
• Hiền Lương Bridge
• Lo Wu Bridge

External links

• Potsdam from Above - Glienicker Bruecke
• Glienicke BridgeatStructurae
• 23rd Hour, 23rd PsalmArchived2023-06-15 at theWayback Machinedescribes Glienicke Bridge in 1969
• The House at the BridgeArchived2021-03-08 at theWayback MachineThe history of the postwar kindergarten at the foot of the bridge