In Potsdamer Bahnhof

Wheels Must Turn for Victory

In Berlin alone, the Reichsbahn employed over 20,000 forced labourers.

Instead of Locomotives …

… hitched to the carriages. What Janina C. told her son about forced labour.

Janina C. – Forced Labour Documents

Janina’s son still has various documents from his mother.

Potsdamer Bahnhof, to the south of Potsdamer Platz, was one of the largest terminal railway stations in Berlin.

The Polish woman Janina C. worked in baggage handling at Potsdamer Bahnhof and was housed in the Reichsbahn camps Falkensee and Friedrichsfelde. In 1944, she was deported to Berlin with her husband from the Warsaw Uprising.

Janina C. died in 1998 and left behind no recorded testimony. Her younger son, who lives in Berlin, remembers her story.

The Reichsbahn not only organised the transport of forced labourers to Berlin, but also employed over 20,000 forced labourers making it the largest employer of foreigners in Berlin.

More on the Reichsbahn in the tours “A Pole in Berlin”, stop 5, and “Through the City of Camps”, stop 7

Address:

Potsdamer Platz / Linkstraße
10785 Berlin

Directions:

S/U Potsdamer Platz

Sources:

“Wheels Must Turn for Victory”: Landesarchiv Berlin (1); photo archive of the Railway Foundation (2); Collection of the Berliner Geschichtswerkstatt (3, 4)

“Instead of Locomotives …”: Testimony of Janina C.’s son, 2012, private archive

“Janina C. – Documents of Forced Labour”: Private archive

Station