All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S11E04.Defenders.of.the.Panama.Canal.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

[narrator] In Panama,

a jungle stronghold built
to defend a prized
American possession.

[Alicia] The Nazis knew
that if they destroyed
what this protected,

they could potentially
defeat the Allies.

[narrator] In Italy,
the hilltop haunt
of a mad scientist.

[Jaega] There's grates
to an underground dungeon

and shackles on a wall,
as if you're in
a torture chamber.

[narrator] And in Germany,

a ghostly structure
divides a city
fractured by conflict.

Families were torn apart,
and this became
a staging post to fight back.

[narrator] Decaying relics...

Ruins of lost worlds...

Sites haunted by the past...

Their secrets waiting...

to be revealed.

In northern Panama,

dense rainforest hides
vestiges of an imperial age.

We're in the muggy,
steaming jungle

and in between the trees
you see these buildings

that, from a distance,
you might almost think
were Mayan ruins.

But these are clearly
modern man-made structures.

These are very solid,
lots of reinforced concrete.

Things built to last.

[narrator] Exploring deeper
into the complex
yields few clues

as to this site's
original function.

There really isn't
anything left.

It's dark and it's dingy.

[Geoffrey] But you can imagine
this was once bustling

and filled with people
whose job was to man
the facilities here.

[narrator] A distinctive
rectangular structure

suggests this was a stronghold
built to defend
against attack.

One of the buildings
is red and white.

It's got these kind of,
porthole-like windows,

it says, "Battery Baird."

[Geoffrey]
It's facing the sea,

so it's clearly some kind
of a military fortification.

[Meigs] Today, this is just
a crumbling outpost
in the jungle.

But there was a time
when this place was pivotal
to the defense

of one of the most important
pieces of infrastructure
in the world.

[narrator] Joe Berger lives
in the nearby city of Colón.

When he was growing up,
this was his playground.

My parents were working here
from the '80s and in the '90s,

and the guys
would dress me up
with military fatigues

and they'd put all the
military makeup on your face

so you could, like, blend in
into the-- into the jungle
and all that.

It was towards the end
of the American presence here.

[narrator] Joe's ancestors
first came to Panama

from Pennsylvania
over a century ago.

Not as part of the military,

but to help construct one of
the world's most ambitious
engineering projects.

My family came down in 1907

to work on the Panama Canal,
to build the Panama Canal.

[Alicia] It really is
impossible to overstate

how significant this was
to global history.

For as long as Europeans
have been colonizing
the Americas,

they have been looking
for a shortcut

to connect the Atlantic Ocean
with the Pacific Ocean.

[narrator] In the late
19th century,

the French were the first
to try and cut through Panama.

[Meigs] They discovered
an area that was full
of mosquito borne diseases,

especially yellow fever
and malaria.

It's estimated the French
lost about 20,000 people

in their effort
to dig the canal.

By 1899, they'd given up.

[Geoffrey] But then,
along comes the United States

and says,
"We need a Panama canal

to connect our
East Coast and West Coast

and unite the continent
and to give us ready access

to Asia and Europe
from either coast."

[narrator]
The American government

purchased
the abandoned French assets

and rights to the canal
for $14 million.

Construction began in 1904,

but only after US engineers

figured out how to succeed
where the French
had run into trouble.

There was a big river
called the Chagres River

that runs from the
Panama highlands
down to the Atlantic.

And sometimes it floods,
it caused a lot of problems
for the French.

So the American,
they build this huge dam

called Gatun Dam

and formed a giant reservoir

in the middle of Panama
that feeds the canal.

Without that water,
the Panama Canal
cannot operate.

[narrator] By 1914,

the 50-mile-long waterway
was open for business.

[Alicia] Effectively,
the Panama Canal project

cost about $375 million.

And obviously,
when you spend
that much money,

you want to protect
your investment.

[narrator]
This is Fort Sherman.

It was made up of
seven defense batteries

intended to protect
the Atlantic entrance
to the canal

and the Gatun Dam.

You've got, like,
14-inch guns, 10-inch guns,

all these battery positions
ready to absolutely pummel

any adversary
that closes up on the canal.

This is Battery Baird,
and over there,
that's Battery Howard.

In order to triangulate
the places where
they're gonna hit,

they'd have a viewing point
over on one side

and a viewing point
over on the other.

And with their calculations,
they'd be able to triangulate

where the ship was heading.

And then right here
is where those calculations,

those coordinations
would pop up
for the people down there,

operating the mortars
to be able to line it up
accordingly.

[Alicia] Altogether,
Fort Sherman was really

this formidable ring
of concrete and firepower.

[narrator]
In the decades to come,
it would be put to the test.

In 1939, Europe went to war,

and from the start,

Americans feared that
the canal could potentially
be a German target.

[Meigs] It was
absolutely vital

to be able to move forces
and trade between
the two oceans.

And if an enemy
could take it out,

that could be
their path to victory.

The US had to do
everything they could

to keep enemy aircraft
from ever reaching it.

[Joe] As the United States
got involved in
the Second World War,

they saw the necessity
for more troops.

These are where the soldiers
would be stationed.

[Alicia] Fort Sherman
was well prepared.

So in order for an attack
to be successful,

the Nazis knew
they would have to use
a different approach.

[narrator]
During World War Two,

Fort Sherman
was on high alert.

US Military leaders
feared Nazi Germany

had plans
to destroy the Panama Canal,

which the fort
was built to protect.

[Alicia] Under the code name
Operation Pelikan,

the Germans made
an audacious plan.

[Geoffrey] They had this idea,

"We're gonna put a couple of
JU 87 Stuka dive bombers

in pieces on U-boats.

And we're gonna, like,
sail up to this little island

just off the coast
from Panama,

and then we're gonna, like,

put them together,
load them up with, like,
a dam busting type bomb.

And then we're going
to bomb the Gatun Dam."

[narrator] A successful strike
may have altered
the course of the war.

[Meigs] If you could
knock out that dam,

it would take years

for the Americans to rebuild
and reopen the canal.

[Geoffrey] Ultimately,
what happened to that plan?

We don't really know.

I mean, the Stukas
never appeared over Panama,

never dropped bombs
on the Gatun Dam.

[Meigs] Fortunately,
the canal was never attacked,

and eventually the Army
came up with another use

for this outpost
in the jungle.

[Alicia] Many of the soldiers
who were destined

to go to the Vietnam War,

did their
jungle training here.

So, there was even
a mock-up Vietnam village

that was set here
for them to train in.

[narrator] Former
Lieutenant Colonel Dan Smith

served in
the US Special Forces
for almost 20 years.

[Col. Smith] When I came here,
I was 23 years old.

First, they would give you
basic living,

plants that were poisonous,
things you could eat,

poisonous snakes,
non-poisonous snakes.

And then they would
teach you how to build
a jungle refuge.

[narrator] Learning to survive
in the jungle
was the easy part.

Soldiers were also trained
to withstand
potential enemy torture.

[Col. Smith] This area
I can remember

because they had
a different torture
in every room.

We were brought here
blindfolded,

and immediately stripped
of all of our clothing.

And... they would send you
in for an interrogation

and... if f you refused
to answer, they would
send you out

and you could go into
the bird cage,

which was about that high.

It was made of barbed wire.

I went to Vietnam in 1967,

and it was challenging.

But I think
my training was good.

[Alicia]
After the Vietnam War,

this facility was still used
for jungle training,

but Fort Sherman's end
was in sight.

[narrator]
On December 31st, 1999,

the US surrendered control
of the canal to Panama,

ending its 150-year
presence in the country.

The American government
tried to retain Fort Sherman,

but the Panamanians like,
held firm,

and they said, "No Yankees
on Panamanian soil."

So, the Americans
handed it back.

But it just sort of
fell into disuse.

And so it's been taken back
by the jungle
in the years since.

[Meigs] My grandfather
helped build the canal.

So, I've been steeped
in the lore of the canal

since I was a little kid.

Going back and seeing
a fort like this,

all the work that went into
protecting that canal,

to save it from
being attacked or destroyed,

it's a reminder to us
of how crucial this kind
of infrastructure can be

can be in our civilization.

[narrator] On the outskirts
of Bologna, Italy,

an eclectic structure
defies explanation.

There's gold leaf
onion domes,

minarets, towers
and turrets.

[Selwood] There are endless
medieval Arab,
Moorish decorations,

in a labyrinth of towers,
staircases and courtyards.

It's clear
this is the creation of
a very wealthy individual,

one whose face is immortalized
in the stained glass.

Here, he came up
with his greatest invention.

[Alicia] He set out
to cure cancer,

and the famous
and the desperate

made pilgrimages
to the sanctuary.

[narrator] The creator
of this peculiar world

won international acclaim.

But, his monumental legacy

would become his prison.

[Selwood] At the heart
of it all is a drawbridge,

not at the front
of the building,
but inside it.

You must have
a certain frame of mind

to build a drawbridge

on the outside
of your private quarters.

He descended into paranoia.

He felt like everyone
was out to get him.

[narrator] Carlotta Rubini
grew up in the shadow
of this looming mansion.

[Carlotta] We always
got used to
this mysterious castle

on top of the hill
that we didn't know
much about.

But I could never see
the castle from the inside

because it closed
before I was born.

[narrator] For decades,
rumors circulated
in the local area

about the eccentric man
who once lived here.

In August 2015,

Carlotta got to
find out the truth.

[Carlotta] I remember
the first time I walked
in here.

I was like, pinching myself

because I couldn't believe
I finally got to set foot
inside this castle.

We were able to learn
the real story

of the Count Cesare Mattei.

My most measures,
Cesare Mattei
led an enviable life.

But it wasn't
without hardship.

[narrator] Born to a wealthy
Bologna family in 1809,

illness influenced his life
from an early age.

He was just 21 when his mother
was diagnosed
with breast cancer,

a disease which lingered on
for 15 years
before killing her.

Disappointed
by incompetent doctors,

he decided to take matters
into his own hands.

His purpose was to find
a new medicine

that could cure everything,

from simple cold to cancer.

[narrator] In 1850,

he acquired this hillside
to build a residence

that would house
his growing obsession.

Cesare didn't trust
anyone else with the design

and was the architect
of his own outlandish vision.

It became known
as Rocchetta Mattei.

The Count loved
the Moorish style,

which is prominent
inside the castle.

"Eccentric" is a good word
to describe it, I think.

It's very peculiar.

[narrator] But it was more
than just Cesare's folly.

Here he would atone
for his mother's
drawn out death.

He came up with
an alternative form
of medicine

called electro homeopathy.

[Carlotta] This is
the room of divisions,

where the Count claims
to have had

the original idea
for his medicine,

uh, which he then
had painted
on the wall there.

[narrator] Cesare believed
his unique plant-based method

could cure diseases

by balancing
electrical charges
and chemicals inside the body.

He turned to grinding
various plants

into pulps
and mixing them in vials.

[Carlotta] It was made
of 33 types
of granules and five liquids,

that, mixed together
in different dosages,

were supposed to
cure everything.

[narrator] He administered
his herbal concoctions

to the sick of Bologna
without charge.

Word spread, and patients soon
came from all over the world

to take the supposedly
magical medicine.

But in 1873, after surviving
a horrifying train crash,

he became
increasingly reclusive

and gradually withdrew
into his house on the hill.

Although
his electro homeopathy
empire was thriving,

he was withering
inside the Rocchetta.

[narrator]
In late 19th century Italy,

Count Cesare Mattei
was becoming
increasingly isolated.

In his eccentric
hilltop mansion,

he lived childless,
single and alone.

Meanwhile, the plant-based
electro homeopathy treatments
he'd invented,

increased in popularity.

At the height of his empire,

there were some
107 distribution centers
throughout the world,

from the UK, to America
and China.

There's even mention
of the remedies

in a novel
by the famous author
Dostoevsky.

[Alicia] But Cesare
was getting older

and he had no named heir.

[Selwood] Increasingly aware
of his legacy,

Cesare turned
to his closest family
to maintain his empire.

But a betrayal
would threaten to destroy
everything he'd built.

[narrator]
The count's state of mind
was deteriorating,

which led to
the fateful decision
of allowing his nephew,

Luigi, to run the business.

His nephew was originally
supposed to inherit
everything.

But his nephew
liked to gamble,

and he had embezzled
a lot of money.

[narrator] Luigi
brought Cesare
to the edge of bankruptcy,

and the Count had to rely
on a long-time collaborator,

Mario Venturoli,
to save him from ruin.

He was able to make
the Count get back
most of the money he had lost.

As a thank you,
the Count adopted him

and made him his heir.

[Selwood] He brought Mario
to live with him in his castle

and gave him
his own private quarters
in a separate wing.

[narrator] But Cesare
was growing
increasingly deluded

and became convince
that Mario and his wife
were trying to kill him.

Cesare Mattei
did not like her,

and accused her
of trying to poison him
through coffee.

The claim was never proven.

But whether
it was true or not,

the story says much about
the state of Cesare's
mental health.

[Carlotta] It got worse.

And it got to the point
where he trusted no one,

except for his maid.

[narrator] Cesare's paranoia
becomes evident

in his castle's
innermost sanctum.

This was the entrance
to the private quarters
of the Count.

There's a drawbridge here

in the middle
of the stairwell,

which is a bit bizarre.

But, he built this
so that he could
isolate himself

from the rest of the castle.

He actually passed away
on his own,

inside these quarters,

and he was found
a few days later

after they pulled down
the drawbridge.

[narrator] Mario inherited
Rocchetta Mattei in 1904.

But, one crucial piece
of information was missing.

[Carlotta] Mario Venturoli,
could never replicate
the same medicine.

The Count never shared
his recipe with anyone.

He and the maid
were the only people

who made the medicine
in here.

She survived the Count,
she never shared the medicine

with Venturoli or anyone else.

[narrator] Even so,

Mario managed to keep
the practice
of electro homeopathy

going until the
mid-20th century,
using his own method.

As modern science developed,

the appetite for homeopathy
and pseudo-scientific
remedies waned.

[narrator] Mario stayed
in Rocchetta Mattei

until his death in 1937.

Over the following years,

the building changed hands
several times.

It briefly opened
as a tourist attraction.

They branded it as
a medieval castle

and they brought
in torture chambers

and these unsettling statues.

[narrator] In the late 1980s,
it was deemed unsafe
and forced to close.

In 2015, after almost
a decade of restoration,

the castle was open
to the public once again.

[Carlotta] The interest
in the tourists' faces

and people coming from
completely different cultures,

they have no idea
what went on in Italy.

I feel, like, a lot of pride
in my hometown.

[narrator] In the breathtaking
sierras of central Bulgaria,

the sharp lines
of a brutalist structure

slice through
the fresh mountain air.

[Bell] All you can see
for miles around

is the rolling landscape
and thick forests.

This is a place of calm
and tranquility.

And then you see it.

[Geoffrey] It's like
dagger shaped,

and it goes on
and on and on and on.

It's curious to have
a building of this size

just plunked down
in the middle of nowhere.

[narrator] The remote location
holds the key

to this structure's function.

[Hadley] You're as far away
as you can get

from the smog
and smut of a big city.

[Geoffrey]
It could be a hotel,
like an outdoor resort.

But inside, it has more
of an institutional feel.

There are what appear to be
lots of dormitories.

[narrator]
The distinctive design
hints at its origin.

You've got rooms with books
just falling off the walls.

There's what looks like
a cinema and a gymnasium.

And then you see things
that gives the game away.

Surgical rooms,
X-ray machines,
lab equipments.

This was clearly
some kind of medical facility.

[narrator]
The unlikely visionaries
behind this complex

were ahead of their time.

This place was built
by not one
but two enterprising women.

At a time when the rest
of Eastern Europe
was suffering

under an oppressive
communist system,

this complex
was in its golden age.

[narrator]
But when seismic change
rocked Bulgaria,

this all came to an abrupt
and chaotic end.

It's clear
that whoever left here,
left in a hurry.

[narrator]
In Bulgaria is the ruin
of an inspirational structure.

Valentin Nedkov
is on a mission to save it
from destruction.

[Valentin] It's like heaven
for me here.

This was a place
where people arrived ill

and left well.

And for my mother,
this building is sacred.

We should never forget
all the good that people
did here in the past.

[narrator] The story
of this innovative sanctuary
started almost a century ago.

In 1930,
Tsar Boris of Bulgaria

marries an Italian princess,
Ioanna.

She was known
as a very charitable woman.

She funded many, many
charitable organizations,

including
a children's hospital

in the capital of Sofia.

[narrator] When Giovanna
took the throne,

the country was in the grips
of a deadly epidemic.

[Hadley] Bulgaria has one
of the highest

death rates
from tuberculosis in Europe.

Tuberculosis, or TB
as it became known,

is a bacterial infection
that mostly affects the lungs.

Over 20,000 people died
of the disease every year.

[Geoffrey]
And so, there was a feeling
inside Bulgaria

that we have to confront this.

We have to come up
with strategies to solve

the problem of tuberculosis
in Bulgarian society.

[narrator] Tsarina Giovanna
took a personal interest
in the project

and championed
the construction
of a specialized hospital.

The Bulgarian government
commissioned a team

to find the ideal location
to build it.

They researched
bioclimatic conditions
for 20 months.

And came to the conclusion
that the mountains here

have the best conditions
for treating lung diseases.

[Geoffrey] The air is clean
and fresh and dry.

So they choose this place

for a state-of-the-art
Bulgarian sanatorium.

[narrator]
A competition was launched
to find the best architect

to bring Giovanna's vision
to life.

It was won by another
groundbreaking woman
of the age.

[Hadley]
Victoria Angelova-Vinarova
was one of the first famous

female architects in Bulgaria.

[Bell] She was awarded
the contract

for the construction
of what would be

her most significant
architectural project.

[narrator] Within the year,
Victoria Vinarova

had created a state-of-the-art
brutalist design.

[Geoffrey] They break ground
in 1939.

But the construction
almost immediately
has to be halted

because of the outbreak
of World War II.

Bulgarian tsar
opportunistically allies
with the Germans.

But when the Soviet Red Army
crosses the border

to liberate Bulgaria in 1944,

the communist partisans
quickly take over power
in Bulgaria

and they make Bulgaria
a satellite state

of Stalin's Soviet Union.

[narrator] By 1946,

the Bulgarian monarchy
had been overthrown,

and a new
Soviet-style government
installed in the country.

[Hadley] Luckily,
the new communist rulers

placed an enormous importance
on public health.

So construction continues

and the hospital
is eventually finished
in 1955.

[narrator] When the doors

of the Raduntsi Specialized
Hospital for Prolonged
Treatment of Lung Diseases

finally opened,
its visionary architect
was missing.

[Hadley] What's really sad
is that Angelova
built a hospital

for tuberculosis patients

and ended up
dying of tuberculosis
before the hospital opened.

[narrator] Her creation,
unrivaled in its time,
lived on.

[Geoffrey] The hospital
at Raduntsi

was the longest hospital
in the Balkans.

It housed 200 male patients,
100 female patients
and 100 children.

[narrator] Valentin's mother
came to work here

as a specialized nurse.

This is the main operating
room of the hospital.

During the 1980s,
thousands of lives
were saved here

using various
complex treatments for TB.

[Hadley]
They also had the latest
cutting-edge medical equipment

and everything they needed
to get their patients
back in working order.

[Geoffrey]
The Raduntsi Hospital
had a golden age

when, you know,
not only Bulgarians,

but people from all over
the Soviet bloc

came to this hospital
to be treated

for tuberculosis
and other lung ailments.

[Valentin]
We are currently standing
in one of the two X-ray rooms.

And behind me are the remains
of the X-ray machines.

Everything was controlled
from this room,

the office
of the head physician.

Over 60 years,

decisions made in here
saved thousands of lives.

[narrator]
But when Soviet communism
collapsed in 1991,

Bulgaria had to rebuild
its government,

putting the hospital
in jeopardy.

[Bell]
The Bulgarian transition
to a capitalist democracy

had been marked by corruption,
cronyism and depression.

All of the state-owned
enterprises that were,
effectively, property

of the people were sold off
at bargain prices.

The decline of the hospital
began with the fall
of communism.

This is when the number
of beds were cut
from 650 to just 180.

Then they started
shutting down
all the departments

until there were
only three left.

[Bell] In 2015,
things really came to a head

when the hospital
had its electricity cut

with patients still in it
because of unpaid bills.

[narrator] But this shocking
turn of events

wasn't the end
of the suffering
at Raduntsi.

[narrator] In Bulgaria
is the derelict shell

of a once pioneering
tuberculosis hospital.

For over 50 years, it provided
essential health care.

But by 2015, the threat
of closure loomed large.

Its last hope lay in the hands
of controversial politician,

Petar Moskov.

[Bell] He once, reportedly,
during a TV interview,

got the location
of the hospital
completely wrong.

He was out by 100 miles.

So, you can tell
that he really wasn't on top

of what was going on here.

[narrator]
Moskov then went on to blow
the national health budget

on divisive
and costly projects

like biometric technology.

[Geoffrey]
And he spent so much money
on all this data collection,

he had to close this hospital
and others like it,

with nothing to show for it.

[narrator] In August 2015,
the last patient left

and Raduntsi Hospital
was abandoned.

Today, there are plans
in progress

to bring the once innovative
treatment center back to life

with the hope
it can once again serve
its original function

as a sanatorium.

[Bell] As of April 2023,
the complex has new owners.

It feels like the history
of this building
is not yet finished.

[narrator]
In northwest Berlin,

a rusting relic
is a chilling reminder
of the city's turbulent past.

[Hadley] There are long,
straight lines of trees
reaching into the distance,

splitting the neighborhoods
in two.

[Onyeka] In the midst of this
is an isolated viaduct

that seems stark
and sharply out of place.

[narrator]
Along its length are a series
of battered buildings.

All of a sudden, you realize
you're at a railway platform.

There are structures
that might have been

waiting rooms
or ticket offices.

The windows are smashed,
the doorways are boarded up,

and there's debris
covering the floor.

But the real question is,
why isn't it still in use?

[narrator]
Further down the line,
a disturbing clue emerges.

[Hadley] A bridge
leads out to the river,

but it's been cut off
and is left marooned
on the bank.

[narrator] Its destruction
marked the start
of an oppressive new era.

[Hadley]
Families were torn apart,

and this railway
became a symbol
of the brutal division.

[narrator] Historian,
Mathias Hiller, sifts
through the remnants

of a desolate station.

[Mathias]
Over there is the old sign
for Platform Two,

and Platform One is hardly
even visible anymore.

The tracks are loose,
they are badly worn.

It's actually a sad sight.

[narrator] Mathias specializes

in the capital's citywide
railroad network

known as the S-Bahn.

The Berlin S-Bahn is not just
a transportation system.

Seen through the lens
of world history...

it represents war,
destruction, division,

and East-West conflict.
It's all here.

[narrator]
The abandoned track dates
back to the 19th century,

when electrical engineer,
Werner von Siemens,

was looking
for somewhere to base
his revolutionary enterprise.

The company we know today
as Siemens was founded in 1847

and they started out producing
telegraph technology.

By 1890, it's this huge
engineering conglomerate,

and it has thousands
of employees,

and they need a space
for all of their factories.

[Pedrick] They found
the ideal place
in Berlin in 1897,

and the area
was officially renamed
Siemens City in January 1914.

[Mathias] By the middle
of the 1920s,

there were 57,300
white and blue collar workers,

and of these, only 2,000
lived in the immediate area.

The other 55,000
needed to commute
back and forth every day,

and that's why they needed
their own train line.

[narrator]
This is the Siemensbahn...

a little known branch
of Berlin's S-Bahn.

It started close
to the River Spree

and transformed the lives
of thousands of workers,

carrying commuters
from all over the city

into the factories
of Siemensstadt.

This is Siemensstadt station,

a beautiful station
that still seems very modern.

The whole line was opened
on December 18th, 1929.

[narrator] When it opened,
Siemens railroad

is thought to have carried
up to 17,000 passengers a day.

But this boom time would last
for less than a decade.

[Hadley] The Second World War
hit the Siemensbahn

and Siemensstadt hard.

[narrator] At the height
of World War II,

Allied bombers had their eyes
on a specific site in Berlin.

The electronic factories
of Siemensstadt

and the Siemens railroad
that ran through it
were a prized target.

Despite ferocious bombardment,

most of the Siemensbahn
infrastructure survives.

[narrator] But it was
the Germans themselves

who destroyed
the Siemensbahn bridge

across the River Spree.

[Mathias] In the last days
of the war,

the Spree bridge was blown up.

It was German troops
on the retreat,

trying to make it more
difficult for the Russians
to get here.

[narrator]
At the conflict's end,
the victorious Allies

dismantled Hitler's Reich...

and redrew the map of Germany,
including Berlin.

[Hadley] The city was divided
up between the Allies

into shared zones of control.

And the East German
state railway company,

which was run
from the Russian zone,

is picked to run the S-Bahn,

which included
the Siemensbahn.

[narrator]
Most of the railroad workers
were West Berliners

who now found
themselves working

for the East German-controlled
company.

[Pedrick] It was
a logistical nightmare,

but as long
as they were still allies,

it wasn't a problem.

[narrator] But with
their ideological differences,

it didn't take long
for relations

between some
of the allied powers to cool.

This was a division
between two different worlds.

In the east,
we had Soviet-style communism,

socialist societies.

In the west,
we had capitalist
democratic society.

Despite this, the agreement
that the East German
railway company

would keep operating
the S-Bahn,

even though
it was in West Berlin,

remained in place.

[Hadley] Railway police
employed by East Germany
control the stations.

The West Berlin police
also have their own
patrols here,

so in short,
it's a total mess.

[narrator] The tense situation
escalated at the start
of the 1960s

when the East German
authorities took
a drastic step

to prevent citizens
from escaping
their draconian regime.

[Hadley] On August 13th, 1961,
the Berlin Wall rises,

and it completely
separates families,

it separates friends,
it's a true tragedy.

[narrator] The residents
of West Berlin were quick
to vent their anger

on the communist-controlled
S-Bahn

which encompassed
the Siemensbahn branch line.

The railways became a symbol
of East German authority,

a symbol of the oddity
of the division of Germany.

[Mathias] The S-Bahn boycott
was declared

and West Berliners were told
not to travel on the line.

Replacement buses
were brought in.

They were soon packed
and hardly anyone went
on the S-Bahn.

[narrator]
Even though the boycott
caused chaos for commuters

across the city,

West Berliners
continued to protest.

[Pedrick] The network lost
up to 80% of its passengers,

which really just put this
already struggling railway

kinda further into the red.

They were desperate
to cut costs

and eventually,
the only costs that were
left to cut were staff.

So, in January 1980,

they fired 78 railway workers
and reduced the service,

and people were furious.

The cutting of hours
and the firing
of a pregnant woman

is the final straw.

[Onyeka]
This is when the workers
decided to strike.

They occupied signal towers,
ensuring that trains

couldn't run, uh,
without effective signals.

Uh, the network
was brought to a halt.

[Pedrick]
They abandoned the trains,
blocked the tracks.

I mean, they wanted it
shut down.

[narrator] Many businesses
were brought to a standstill

as thousands of commuters
struggled to get to work.

East Berliners could not risk
taking part in the protest,

and the communist authorities
were quick to enforce

their jurisdiction
over the striking
West Berliners.

[Pedrick]
The East German railway police
stormed the signal towers

and dragged out the occupiers,

and so basically,
the strikes were broken.

[Onyeka] But the cost
of these delays

and the whole breakdown
of the system meant

that it was not
economically viable
to keep the network running.

[Hadley] Over 40 miles
of lines were closed.

That's almost half
of the S-Bahn.

[narrator] Four years
after the strike,

West Berlin
finally negotiated control

of its section of the S-Bahn.

But by now,
a new underground line

had been built along the route
of the Siemens branch,

which had never reopened
after the strike

and remained abandoned.

[Mathias]
When there were no more staff
on the platforms here,

vandalism began.

And when there's no traffic,
the trees grow again.

And look how nature
has reclaimed this so quickly.

Today, there's a project
to bring the Siemensbahn
back to life

just in time
for its 100th birthday.

[narrator] Project engineer,
Dorothy Blendon,

understands that
for Berliners,

this railway is more than just
a means of transportation.

[Dorothy] The people in this
area are really connected

to the Siemensbahn.

It's, like, their track,

and I think
in reactivating it,

we're giving back
something to the people.

It's important
for getting this area

of the city connected
to train again.