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According to customer service at the company that currently operates the S-Bahn in Berlin, the full name is Stadtschnellbahn . 2
    The Nazis built a key part of this system for the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Their final addition to the S-Bahn was in October 1939, shortly after Germany invaded Poland.
    A book on the history of Berlin explained, “The S-Bahn had its origins in the notion of a ‘ Ringbahn ,’ originally derived from the military, who wanted to ensure that in the event of a mobilization the various Berlin terminal stations would be linked together by a line that would also serve the Tempelhof training grounds. The actual position of the ring line was a compromise between the desire to maximize utilization by being as close as possible to the core of the city and the desire to minimize land-acquisition costs by avoiding areas of existing urban development. . . . After electrification in 1924–9 the journey time for a full circuit of the S-Bahn ring was 63 minutes. . . . A final element was provided at the end of the 1930s by another link across the S-Bahn ring, this time running north-south in a tunnel beneath the heart of the city, intersecting the ‘diameter’ S-Bahn line at Friedrichstrasse station, which developed into a major multi-level interchange of both S-Bahn and U-Bahn lines. . . . In 1939 the U-Bahn was still a relatively small system supplementing the S-Bahn in the more densely settled inner part of the city.” 3
    Berlin at that time had a cutting-edge public transportation system that connected the whole city. Residents did not need a car to get around, which was a huge plus during the gasoline rationing of World War II.
    The S-Bahn was a key part of this system, along with the primarily underground subway system, the U-Bahn ( Untergrundbahn ). Although these were both rapid transit commuter train systems in the same city, the two systems were run by different entities—the National Railroad controlled the S-Bahn while the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, popularly called the BVG, ran the U-Bahn. As such, Ogorzow’s work had nothing to do with the U-Bahn.
    Other elements of Berlin’s public transportation system at the time included a tramway and a bus network, including trolley buses. The company Ogorzow worked for, the National Railroad, was not involved in these alternative means of transportation.
    Ogorzow worked as an auxiliary signalman of the Berlin-Rummelsburg S-Bahn station, located in the Lichtenberg borough of Berlin. Two experts on the S-Bahn explained what duties Paul Ogorzow’s job entailed: “An ‘auxiliary signalman’ or (as we call it) auxiliary staff at a signal tower (word-for-word translation of Hilfsstell-wärter : ‘Auxiliary guard of a signal tower’) had to care about faults at points (German word is Weiche , other English words are ‘switch’ or ‘flank’), signals or rails and to repair these faults. For example he had to free unheated points from ice or snow in winter. Other examples: Mechanical signal towers use metal wires to change signals and the auxiliary staff had to make sure that these wires are functioning. Signals were lighted by gas in those times. Gas came from gas cylinders that had to be replaced when empty. The gas lamps often needed maintenance, like replacing the wick. All these tasks were duties of the auxiliary staff.” 4
    Ogorzow was not close with his coworkers, but he did not stick out either. His superiors viewed him as a good worker, and he did much of his work alone.
    On the evening of September 20, 1940, when Paul Ogorzow was riding the S-Bahn looking for a woman to attack, Miss Gerda Kargoll was taking the train home.
    However, while riding the S-Bahn, she fell asleep. She was tired from a long day, and had been drinking a bit, which combined with the motion of the train to put her to sleep. When she woke, she’d ridden past her station. She got off the train at the Rahnsdorf station and waited to take a train going back in the