ABSTRACT

Buildings, streets and S-Bahn infrastructure are as important in defining the cityscape as monuments and street names. Alfred Döblin, author of Berlin-Alexanderplatz, the quintessential Berlin novel from 1929, returned to the city in the spring of 1947. The end of the Berlin Blockade was supposed to normalize life in the city; however, the Blockade had only been over for a week when, on 20 May 1949, the railwaymen in West Berlin went on strike, demanding better pay and working conditions. As far as the western powers were concerned, there were no limits on each commandant’s powers in his sector. In theory, then, they could supervise and control the transport police operating in their bailiwick. Insisting that the maintenance of law and order in their jurisdiction was their responsibility and their responsibility alone, the commandants argued that people arrested on S-Bahn or on railway property should be taken to the ordinary police of that sector.