Berlin subway station to be renamed: Campus of Democracy

The Berlin CDU wants a new name for a subway station in Berlin. The Magadelenenstraße station on U-Bahn line 5 in Lichtenberg is to become Campus of Democracy. However, there are no plans to rename the nearby Magdalenenstraße.

The largest parliamentary group in the Berlin House of Representatives passed a corresponding motion at its closed meeting in Augsburg, which continues until Sunday. The motion, which was obtained by the Berliner Zeitung, states: "The Senate is called upon, in cooperation with the Berlin Transport Authority, to rename the Magdalenenstraße subway station 'Campus for Democracy'. Furthermore, the retention of the current name Magdalenenstraße should be considered as an additional option."

CDU wants new name for subway station - the old one should be retained as an addition

Similar to Berlin's main station, which bore its historic name "Lehrter Bahnhof" as an additional name for six years. However, Deutsche Bahn removed the additional signs without comment in 2012.

The new name in Lichtenberg is intended to refer to the "Campus for Democracy," as the site of the former Stasi headquarters in Lichtenberg has been called for several years. A central place of remembrance and learning for dealing with the SED dictatorship, as well as an important center for democracy education, has been created there. By renaming the subway station, the CDU aims to "raise public awareness of the site's function as an educational and meeting center for democratic values," it says.

According to the CDU, the renaming should take place on one of Berlin's anniversaries of the peaceful revolution, but no later than the anniversary of the storming of the GDR's Ministry for State Security, i.e., in January 2026. This would be a symbolic occasion to honor the peaceful revolution of 1989/90 and its historic achievements, it is said.

New name for subway station: renaming already in January 2026?

Whether this timeframe is realistic, however, is rather doubtful. While several Berlin subway stations have been renamed in recent years—and all of the new names mark facilities in their immediate vicinity—the planning process usually took a very long time.

Initial efforts to rename Zinnowitzer Straße on the U6 to Natural History Museum began in 1998. The Berlin Passenger Association IGEB and various politicians proposed the renaming in 2007. It wasn't until December 2009 that the change was finally implemented.

The Senate Department for Urban Development, in particular, had balked at the idea, citing the high costs. According to the BVG, renaming a subway station involves costs of between €250,000 and €300,000, as all information on all portals and maps at all stations and trains must be changed. And all this at the same time. Such changes are therefore usually made at the time of the timetable change, when new information is posted anyway, rather than during the year.

The most recent renaming took place in 2016. At that time, the U3 Thielplatz station was renamed Freie Universität (Free University) – almost 20 years after the initial initiatives. Since 2016, the Neue Grottkauer Straße station on the U5 line has also been called Kienberg – Gardens of the World.

The planned renaming of the Mohrenstraße station on the U2 line in Mitte takes on a different form. This has not yet been implemented because a long-running debate about renaming the street has not yet produced a result. The term "Moor," which was given to the street in central Berlin around 1700, is considered racist.

But the renaming is controversial. Mohrenstraße was supposed to be renamed Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Straße in 2021. Objections to the renaming were filed. In July 2023, the Berlin Administrative Court ruled that Mohrenstraße could be renamed. This hasn't happened yet. And the subway station still bears its original name.

Such political and historical disputes are unlikely to be expected when it comes to the name Magdalenenstraße. The street in Lichtenberg received its name around 1900. Why this happened is not entirely clear today. What is certain is that the female first name comes from Hebrew and means "woman from Magdala," a city on the Sea of ​​Galilee.

Incidentally, the Magdalenenstraße subway station, like all stations on the E line, originally running from Alexanderplatz to Friedrichsfelde, was opened in 1930. Initially, it was called Alfredstraße.

Campus of Democracy subway station: The Greens in the district are also in favor

The CDU parliamentary group, however, is not the only party to the idea of ​​renaming the station. The Green Party faction in the district parliament had already publicly floated the idea of ​​a subway station called "Campus of Democracy" six months ago. The Greens also took the anniversary of the storming of the Stasi headquarters on January 15, 1990, as an opportunity. The district office was then asked to "seek support from the Senate to persuade the relevant authorities" to add the name.