The Stadtmuseum Berlin has made me very very happy by posting a short video that shows what you would’ve seen if you’d traveled on the S–bahn through Berlin from the Jannowitzbrücke station to Bahnhof Zoo in 1947. Old photographs are blended in at the right moment of the journey, with captions in German.
It’s a great way to see what progress the city had made just 2 years after the end of World War II. The streets look swept clean, trees have been planted here and there, but in places — especially between the Bellevue and Tiergarten stations, the city is a wasteland.
This is a fascinating look at a moment in Berlin’s postwar history.
Postwar Germany 
Would have been a tough place to live in – Berlin post war. By the 50’s everyone was looking to a better life & leaving the dark Nazi past behind.
Tough and complicated, yes, especially since a person might live in one sector of the city and work in another, and be subject to different allied rules. On top of all of the destruction, denazification and the shortages. On the other hand, it always amazes me how much “normal” life also existed in postwar Germany’s devastated cities. People always get on with their lives somehow.
That is a wonderful video, Anika. Good for you for giving it more publicity. There’s such a wealth of photographic and film documentation of the immediate post-war period on YouTube, if one can sift through all the garbage also posted about WWII. I particularly enjoy postings from the various “Stadtarchieve”, and the extensive collection of films by Chronos History. Of course it helps if you speak German 😉
I would encourage all of your fans to spend a little time snooping out some of these treasures on YouTube!
It’s so easy to get lost on YouTube once you start to follow these videos, Tilman! But they are amazing, even if you can’t follow the language. Some time soon I’ll post links to some of the Russian WW2 commemoration videos I’ve been watching lately. I don’t understand a word, but it’s enlightening to see the people in uniforms dripping with medals, hear the patriotic songs and the sometimes bizarre stage shows!