The station opened on 14 May 1906 under the name Bismarckstraße in the course of the first western extension of the 1902 Stammstrecke route, which originally ran from Warschauer Brücke (now Warschauer Straße) to Knie (now Ernst-Reuter-Platz).
At the same time, the Wilhelmplatz (now Richard-Wagner-Platz) station was put in operation as the western terminus. The architect Alfred Grenander had designed Germany's first U-Bahn station with four tracks, in consideration of the future branch-off to Reichskanzlerplatz (now Theodor-Heuss-Platz) in Westend that went into service on 29 March 1908.
The station was renamed Städtische Oper on 1 August 1929, Deutsches Opernhaus on 16 August 1934, and received its current name on 22 September 1961.
Service between this station and Richard-Wagner-Platz (now on the U7) ceased on 1 May 1970, leaving the two central tracks unused, however the tunnel remains and is used for maintenance service between the U2 and U7 lines. U7 service to the new Bismarckstraße station began on 28 April 1978[1]
On 8 July 2000, during the Love Parade, a fire broke out at Deutsche Oper, injuring 21, destroying an U-Bahn train and severely damaging the station. As the only exits were at the western end of the platforms, passengers had to flee in the tunnel. As a result, the BVG decided to build a new eastern exit and reopened the station on 1 September 2000 in a renovated 1906 condition.
