Railway from Wittenberge: From the GDR to Greece and back!

Railway from Wittenberge: From the GDR to Greece and back!

Wolfgang Sporleder, a railway lover from Wittenberge, has a fascinating journey that changed his life forever. After completing his training as a train driver at the Reichsbahn in the 1960s, he became part of the ambitious railway project DE-IC 2000 N, which aimed to deliver twelve trivial trains to Greece. "I heard about it for the first time in 1988," recalls Sporleder, who at that time worked in the Wittenberge railway depot, which was closed in 1997.

His role as trainers for locomotive drivers led him to exciting test drives between Paulinenaue and Neustadt/Dosse, where the route was expanded especially for higher speeds. But the real surprise came when he and a colleague received the invitation to travel to Greece in August 1989 to train train drivers-a project that was extraordinary for a GDR citizen like him because he had no passport.

Monitoring and secrets

The Stasi had become aware of sporleder because it not only led a local railway depot, but also had a target for its west relatives. "I was not part of the protest movement, but I supported the people who took to the streets," he admits. Despite the monitoring of the Stasi, he finally received his passport and traveled to Athens, where he trained the Greek train drivers. "The Stasi could not monitor that I called my wife," smiles sporleder.

During his time in Greece, he was faced with a new culture and exchanged drachmas against D-Mark to bring money home. "I was able to take around 800 D mark with me," he says proudly. But the return to the GDR was dramatic, because just a few days after his return, the wall fell on November 9, 1989, an event that he followed with his wife in front of the television. "I am glad that it came," confirms Sporleder.

The trip to Greece sparked wanderlust in it, and after the fall of the Berlin Wall he often traveled to different countries. Today, at the age of 82, Sporleder still trains train drivers in Wittenberge and remains loyal to his railway family, while his son and daughter are also active in the industry.