Tränenpalast

The term Tränenpalast is derived from the tearful partings that took place in front of the building between western visitors and East German residents who were not permitted to travel to West Berlin.

Travelers in West Berlin could use the station to transfer between those lines, or to cross into East Germany.

The Tränenpalast was built after the volume of traffic and the constraints of the lower level of the main building made it necessary to expand.

[4] On 15 September 2011, the Haus der Geschichte opened the museum with exhibitions about Berlin during the Cold War.

It displays original artefacts, documents, photographs and audio-visual material about the checkpoint and it provides an overview of the German reunification process.