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Photo: Jörg Zägel, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Millions of visitors leaving East Berlin by train said tearful goodbyes to their friends and relatives from the East at this former border checkpoint. Hardly a year after the wall came down, the building was turned into a nightclub until it was forced to close in 2006. It re-opened as a museum in September 2011 and now houses a permanent exhibition that brings the absurd normality of everyday life in the divided city back to life.
The Tränenpalast is a former border crossing point between East and West Berlin, at Berlin Friedrichstraße station, which was in operation between 1962 and 1989. It is now a museum with exhibitions about Berlin during the Cold War period and about the process of German reunification. It was the border crossing for travelers on the S-Bahn, U-Bahn and trains going between East and West Germany. It was used only for westbound border crossings. It had separate checkpoints for West Berliners, West Germans, foreigners, diplomats, transit travelers and East Germans.
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Four floors of exhibitions with a relatively good variety of genres and artists. A very nice oasis of calm from the busy Friedrichstraße.
Europe's Show Palace
Berlin's biggest show with over 100 artists on the biggest theater stage in the world.