A visit of metropole Berlin is not complete without a stop at the Olympiastadion, where on and off the pitch has be written so much history. Preferably with a match of Hertha BSC, one of the oldest clubs of Germany.
There's little stadiums with more history than the Olympiastadion of Berlin. An iffy past, though: built for the 1936 Olympics, organized by Germany in honor and flory of the nazi regime of Adolf Hitler. If we stick to football, the headbutt of Zinedine Zidane went all over the world.
The stadium has been built in a pit - the lowest tier is below street level - and is a perfect example of nazi architecture, with a lot of characteristic pillars around. Most recognizable is the opening in the Westkurve, where once the Olympic Flame burned. Compared to how the Olympiastadion was built, the construction has mostly stayed the same, with as biggest difference that the stands have a roof now, created for the 2006 World Cup. Around the stadium, the Olympic rings behind the Ostkurve and the Olympic bell still remind to the original meaning of the stadium.
Until 1974 Hertha played in the Stadion am Gesundbrunnen, colloquially known as 'die Plumpe'. It was beloved an centrally located, close to the Berlin Wall: so close that in the first years after the construction of the Wall, Hertha-fans from East Berlin gathered at the Wall to hear at least some stadium noise from Die Plumpe.
In 1974 Hertha had to leave the place because of financial problems, and apartment blocks came on the place next to train station Berlin-Gesundbrunnen. On the Behmstraße (opposite nr. 40) four sculptures of football players memorize the place when once Die Plumpe was. Around the corner, on the Bellermanstraße stands in extension of the bridge a sculpture of a ball, on the former short end of the stadium.
A little further in the Behmstraße, at nr. 3, sits café Bierbrunnen an der Plumpe. It's a real Hertha-bar with pictures from the past, mostly from the times that Hertha still played at Gesundbrunnen.
If you cross the street at the sculptures of the Behmstraße and enter the park, you'll come to another special place in Hertha's history. The pitch on your left hand is the oldest still existing club pitch, the NNW-Platz, back in the days called the Schebera-platz. Already in 1904 Hertha played its home games here, from which you can see more in the pavillion of the ground.
Close to Berlin-Hauptbahnhof ligt, well hidden behind the verstopt Lehrter Straße, there's another stadium: the Poststadion. Here played Hertha during the dark eights of last century, when The Old Lady played deep in 2. Bundesliga and the attendances were shrunk to a bar minimum. There's still football being played to this day, by Berliner AK 07 in the Regionalliga (the fourth level).
A special stadium in the district Prenzlauer Berg, almost directly against the Berlin Wall, but still in former East Berlin. On this place Hertha played matches already in the 19th century, when the current stadium wasn't built yet. It has been built in the days of the GDR, and feels very Eastern European. In recent years Hertha played its qualifying rounds of the Europa League, as an alternative for the giant Olympiastadion. This stadium is also very much used: by Viktoria Berlin in the 3. Liga, and for high risk-matches of the infamous BFC Dynamo.
Between 1986 and 1988 Hertha BSC hit the rock bottom of the club: Die Alte Dame had to go back to non-league football. Almost no one came to their matches anymore, so Hertha played at the Sportring Wedding. The pitch at the Osloer Straße 42 (when entering, the one on your left) is still being used as an amateur pitch.
Because of the low occupancy compared to other Bundesliga clubs it's relatively very easy to get tickets at Hertha BSC. Also for top games against Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund or Union Berlin tickets aren't usually a problem, if you just be sure to buy them as soon as the sale starts. You buy them on the official website of Hertha BSC.
The stadium is located in the district of Berlin-Westend en is goed reachable by car via the B2, where you follow the signs to the Olympia Park. With the public transport you can both take the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn to station Olympiastadion. Please note, these are two different stations, both on a five minute walk from the stadium.
Images: Shutterstock, BSR Agency
