West Berlin was a little island surrounded by an infamous wall in the middle of Russian occupied Germany. It enjoyed a kind of twilight status of being in Germany, but not in Germany all at the same time. Young Germans would flock to West Berlin in order to escape military service in the West. Back home they'd have to do a full year of service in the military, but in Berlin under American, British and French occupation, they didn't fall under the jurisdiction of the West Germans and were not compelled to complete any military service for them. They did have freedom of movement in and out of West Berlin guaranteed by the occupying allies thumbing their noses at the Russians all around.
They would thumb their way back home frequently, standing at the border crossing to catch a ride. Most cars leaving Berlin were of course also headed into West Germany, passing through the East in transit. The drivers of Berlin became so used to and comfortable with this crowd of hitchers Dreilinden that it would be a rare wait that exceed 10 or so minutes.
Even in 1991 when I arrived there were 10 or 20 hitchers there every time I passed through and a spirit of community I'd not seen anywhere before. Hitchers stood together waving signs, chatting about destinations and origins and every minute or so a car would stop. The driver would either pick someone up then and there, or if nobody nearby could use the ride, the offer was shouted around the crowd: "Anyone headed for ...?" None of the seedy eyes, the cautious distance, or sense of rivalry that you find elsewhere among coincident hitch-hikers. A sense of camaraderie and certainty that your ride would come pretty soon in spite of all the competition.
It was so well known among European hitch-hikers that Simon Calder in his 1980 book Europe: A Manual for Hitch-hikers listed it as the very best spot in all of Europe! Krakow incidentally was the second, the M5/A40 junction in Britain the third and Lyon the worst. He wrote of Dreilinden:
- This spot is always crowded with a motley assortment of hitchers plus their offspring, pets and possessions; the city authorities have erected barriers to prevent hitchers from blocking the road entirely. But such is the siege mentality in West Berlin that around half the available vehicles stop. And because of the regulation that you have to get a lift straight through to West Germany, West Berlin is the one place in Europe where you're guaranteed a minimum lift of 200 km. The only cloud on the horizon is that the hitching spot is technically part of a motorway, so West Berlin could lose the title overnight at the whim of the authorities.
