Despite sustaining damage during the Second World War, the station remained in service.

The U-Bahn station was opened on 28 August 1961, soon after the building of the Berlin Wall and also with the name Putlitzstraße, although no direct interchange with the S-Bahn station existed.

After the Wall fell, S-Bahn services were gradually reinstated.

In 1992, the U-Bahn station was renamed Westhafen after the nearby Westhafen port and on its reopening on 19 December 1999, the S-Bahn station also assumed this name.

In the year 2000, the station was redesigned by artists Françoise Schein and Barbara Reiter: they installed the 1948 text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, juxtaposed with quotes of Heinrich Heine in German and French language.