100 years of the Berlin S-Bahn

Fritz Rosen was born in Frankfurt am Main on 16 October 1890 into a Jewish family. He began his professional career there in 1914 in an architectural office. In 1924, he moved to Berlin, where he worked with the design professor Lucian Bernhard. Since then, he has developed award-winning posters for the Bosch company and the Berlin advertising campaign, among others.

In 1930, he designed the green logo with the letter “S”, which is identified with „Stadt“ (urban) or „Schnell“ (high-speed) railway, to mark the renaming of the “Berliner Stadt-, Ring-, und Vorortbahnen” (city, circle, suburban) to the more catchy “S-Bahn”. This logo is still an eye-catcher today – and far beyond Berlin – for the local rapid transit systems of Deutsche Bahn AG. The designer was rewarded with 800 Reichsmarks for his sustainable design.

Fritz Rosen had already taken over the management of Bernhard’s Berlin studio in 1925, which he ran as the “Bernhard-Rosen” studio, as Bernhard was now living in the USA. After the transfer of power to the Nazis and the first anti-Semitic laws in spring 1933, he fled. He settled in the London neighbourhood of Hendon at the end of 1933 and opened an office for advertising graphics.

On 5 December 1939, a British “tribunal” granted his release from internment and further restrictions. However, this did not prevent the British government from interning him on 21 June 1940 – in the face of xenophobia fuelled by right-wing newspapers and general fear of a German invasion. Instead of the asylum he had hoped for, this happened to tens of thousands of people who had escaped racist and political persecution by the Nazis.

Fritz Rosen’s next station in life was the Kitchener Camp. He signed the back of a group photo of camp mates. At least he was spared deportation to Canada or Australia. His Home Office index cards note “released 8.9.40”. He remained in England and continued to work in his profession. He lived with his wife Dorothy Mary (née Toppin, 29.9.1904 – 20.4.2005) in London (NW4, 32 Greyhound Hill) until at least 1957. He died in Brighton on 12 December 1980.

A print of a photo from Kitchener Camp has been preserved in the Dehn family archive. Now a second of the 30 internees can probably be identified. Fritz Rosen left his inscription in memory at the top right of the back of the photo print..

Is No. 11 in the photo Fritz Rosen? Source: Dehn family archive.

More about the men on the photo

For comparison: The portrait photo of Fritz Rosen from the archive of the Berlin S-Bahn Museum.

The logo of the Berlin S-Bahn from 1930 still refers to the local railways throughout Germany today.