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  • Months after the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the communist GDR state the German Democratic Republic, the wreckage of a Trabant car still remains, on 15th June 1990, in Berlin, Eastern Germany.
    GDR_trabant01-15-06-1990.jpg
  • Months after the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the communist GDR state German Democratic Republic, a brown coal delivery man stops to shovel his polluting fossil fuel into local cellars, on 15th June 1990, in Aue, Saxony. Aue is a mining town in the Ore Mountains known for its copper, titanium, and kaolinite. The town was a machine-building and cutlery manufacturing centre in the East German era with a population of roughly 18,000 inhabitants. It was the administrative seat of the former district of Aue-Schwarzenberg in Saxony and part of the Erzgebirgskreis since August 2008.
    GDR_coleman-15-06-1990.jpg
  • Months after the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the communist GDR state the German Democratic Republic, a Trabant is worked on at the company factory, on 15th June 1990, in Berlin, Eastern Germany. The East German auto maker VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke was at Zwickau in Saxony. The Trabant was the most common vehicle in East Germany - Like the Beetle in the West, its Peoples Car with a 595 cc, two-cylinder air-cooled engine. It had space for four, was compact, light and durable with its distinctive body shape constructed from Duroplast panels attached to a galvanized steel shell. It was in production without any significant changes for about 34 years, becoming a symbol for the cheap, cheerful and polluting possessions for Communist Europeans. When the Berlin Wall eventually fell, Trabants coughed and spluttered onto West German roads for the first time.
    GDR_trabant02-15-06-1990.jpg
  • Desk in the preserved office of former Minister in charge of GDR secret police chief, Erich Mielke - an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. After the fall of the socialist state, Mielke was sentenced to 6 years in prison and died in 2000, aged 92.
    berlin_stasi_museum28-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Desk in the preserved office of former Minister in charge of GDR secret police chief, Erich Mielke - an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. After the fall of the socialist state, Mielke was sentenced to 6 years in prison and died in 2000, aged 92.
    berlin_stasi_museum29-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • The private quarters of GDR secret police Minister Erich Mielke, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.
    berlin_stasi_museum44-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Meeting furniture in the preserved office of former Minister in charge of GDR secret police chief, Erich Mielke - an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. After the fall of the socialist state, Mielke was sentenced to 6 years in prison and died in 2000, aged 92.
    berlin_stasi_museum24-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Wall map of Communist East Germany in the conference room where the heads of the GDR secret police met with district administrators, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history.
    berlin_stasi_museum35-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • A sign for the green environment in a housing estate located in the former Eastern Bloc Communist East Germany known as the GDR (German Democratic Republic) during the cold war. This was once a restricted zone due to its proximity to the notorious secret police (Stasi) Hohenschonhausen prison before the fall of the Berlin wall in Nov 1989.
    hohenschonhausen_stasi_prison01-05-0...jpg
  • Socialist decor near the conference room where the heads of the GDR secret police met with district administrators, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history.
    berlin_stasi_museum36-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • The conference room where the heads of the GDR secret police met with district administrators, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.
    berlin_stasi_museum33-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Detail of a rusty Wartburg 312 car standing at the kerbside in an eastern Berlin district. A sticker with the letters DDR as the German Democratic Republic (DDR in German and GDR in English) as East Germany was called during the Cold War. Any car was a highly-prized possession when ownership of luxury goods like vehicles aroused suspicion for other than Communist Party officials. This car may have been someone of rank or influence. The GDR was a self-declared socialist state, referred to in the West as a "communist state" in the Soviet Sector of occupied Germany created after the second world war and partitioned when DDR leaders built the Berlin Wall that eventually segregated Germany and Europe. The East Germany state existed from 7 October 1949 until 3 October 1990 and was a potent symbol of a divided Europe during the Cold War.
    DDR_travel01-06_1990_1.jpg
  • Socialist light switches in the preserved office of former Minister in charge of GDR secret police chief, Erich Mielke - an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. After the fall of the socialist state, Mielke was sentenced to 6 years in prison and died in 2000, aged 92.
    berlin_stasi_museum30-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Socialist wall thermometer in preserved office of former Minister in charge of GDR secret police chief, Erich Mielke - an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. After the fall of the socialist state, Mielke was sentenced to 6 years in prison and died in 2000, aged 92.
    berlin_stasi_museum23-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Lenin bust in preserved office of former Minister in charge of GDR secret police chief, Erich Mielke - an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. After the fall of the socialist state, Mielke was sentenced to 6 years in prison and died in 2000, aged 92.
    berlin_stasi_museum22-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Displayed on a table at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, peaked caps of the former East German (DDR in German) border police are on sale in orderly rows for the sake of tourists to this German city. The border troops of the German Democratic Republic (Grenztruppen), were a military force of the GDR and the primary force guarding the Berlin Wall and the border between East and West Germany. The Border Troops numbered at their peak approximately 47,000 troops and other than the Soviet Union, no other Warsaw Pact country had such a large border guard force. In all, 1,065 persons were killed along the GDR's frontiers and coastline, often by the border guards. The East Germany state existed from 7 October 1949 until 3 October 1990 and was a potent symbol of a divided Europe during the Cold War.
    DDR_travel02-06_1990_1.jpg
  • Secretariat offices for the staff to Erich Mielke, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.
    berlin_stasi_museum13-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • The main entrance of 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.
    berlin_stasi_museum05-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Exterior of 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.
    berlin_stasi_museum04-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Anti-police message outside of 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history.
    berlin_stasi_museum02-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • ID papers for an anonymous secret agent from Cottbus, Germany, an exhibit in the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. The Stasi Museum is a 22-hectare complex of research  and memorial centre concerning the political system of the former East Germany.
    berlin_stasi_museum07-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • The cafeteria and informal meeting place for secret police generals, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.
    berlin_stasi_museum31-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Secretariat offices for the staff to Erich Mielke, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.
    berlin_stasi_museum21-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Secretariat offices for the staff to Erich Mielke, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.
    berlin_stasi_museum19-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Exterior of 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.
    berlin_stasi_museum41-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Secretariat offices for the staff to Erich Mielke, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.
    berlin_stasi_museum34-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • A 'Bodil' passive eavesdropping transmitter from Bulgaria powered by a phone line, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.
    berlin_stasi_museum37-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Secretariat offices for the staff to Erich Mielke, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.
    berlin_stasi_museum17-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Secretariat offices for the staff to Erich Mielke, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.
    berlin_stasi_museum14-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • A soldier in uniform, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.
    berlin_stasi_museum10-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • ID papers for an anonymous secret agent from Cottbus, Germany, an exhibit in the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. The Stasi Museum is a 22-hectare complex of research  and memorial centre concerning the political system of the former East Germany.
    berlin_stasi_museum09-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • A soldier image on a rug, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history.
    berlin_stasi_museum11-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Taken six months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a German lady from the old German Democratic Republic (DDR or GDR) looks back over her shoulder nostalgically at an abandoned Trabant car on a sunlit street in eastern Berlin, once in the eastern zone before the Communist-inspired Berlin Wall was breached in November 1989. Blocks of modern East German-designed flats line the street and a tram line can be seen in the middle of the highway. The DDR-produced Trabant suffered poor performance, but its smoky two-stroke engine regarded with affection as a symbol of the more positive sides of East Germany. Many East Germans streamed into West Berlin and West Germany in their Trabants after the opening of the Berlin Wall. It was in production without any significant change for nearly 30 years. The name Trabant means "fellow traveler" in German.
    RB-0029.jpg
  • The faces and names of those killed while trying to cross  Berlin Wall, the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    berlin_wall_victims03-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Where young Germans once risked their lives, graffiti and tags now adorn the concrete surfaces of original sections of the Berlin wall at the East Side Gallery on Muhlenstrasse, Berlin. The site is the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    berlin_wall_gallery13-08-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Aerial landscape of Bernauer Strasse, showing a section of preserved Berlin wall where East Germans were killed while trying to cross the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    berlin_wall_bernauer03-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Months after the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the communist GDR state the German Democratic Republic, bent street signposts still remain, on 15th June 1990, in Berlin, Eastern Germany.
    DDR_signpost-15-06-1990.jpg
  • The portrait of a Soviet soldier sits high above modern Friedrishstrasse in modern Berlin at the location of  the former Checkpoint Charlie, the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    checkpoint_charlie_soviet01-05-04-20...jpg
  • Children play in Marx Engels Platz on an East Berlin shopping precinct roof built during the Communist DDR-era. The youngsters use the sloping architecture to slide down to the ground, and a drain. On the roof’s surface has been left the marks of many dirty shoes and scribbled graffiti. The kids are to grow up as free westerners in the newly reformed Germany, after the falloff the Berlin Wall in November 1989. This picture was taken in a few months after that event when the former DDR had been wiped off the modern-day maps. Marx-Engels-Forum was a public park in the central Mitte district of Berlin. It was named for Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, authors of The Communist Manifesto of 1848 and regarded as founders of the Communist movement. The park was created by authorities of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1986
    berlin_children01-15-06-1990_1.jpg
  • An outdoor exhibition panel near the former Checkpoint Charlie, the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    checkpoint_charlie_tourists06-05-04-...jpg
  • The faces and names of those killed while trying to cross  Berlin Wall, the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    berlin_wall_victims02-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • The faces and names of those killed while trying to cross  Berlin Wall, the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    berlin_wall_victims01-07-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Young men re-enact the former border crossing between Communist East and West Germany during the Cold War at the site of the former Checkpoint Charlie, the border. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    checkpoint_charlie_tourists04-05-04-...jpg
  • Where young Germans once risked their lives, graffiti and tags now adorn the concrete surfaces of original sections of the Berlin wall at the East Side Gallery on Muhlenstrasse, Berlin. The site is the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    berlin_wall_gallery07-06-04-2013_1.jpg
  • A year after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Communist Eastern Bloc, children play in Marx Engels Platz on an East Berlin shopping precinct roof built during the Communist DDR-era, on 4th November 1990, in Berlin, Germany. Marx-Engels-Forum was a public park in the central Mitte district of Berlin. It was named for Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, authors of The Communist Manifesto of 1848 and regarded as founders of the Communist movement. The park was created by authorities of the former German Democratic Republic GDR in 1986.
    90s_germany-15-06-1990_5.jpg
  • The outer wall and watchtower on Genzlerstrasse of the notorious secret police (Stasi) Hohenschonhausen prison. The Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial is now a museum and memorial located in Berlin's north-eastern Lichtenberg district. Hohenschönhausen was a very important part of the Socialist GDR's (German Democratic Republic) system of political and artistic oppression. Although torture (including Chinese water torture) and physical violence were commonly employed at Hohenschönhausen (especially in the 1950s), psychological intimidation was the main method of political repression and techniques including sleep deprivation, total isolation, threats to friends and family members.Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.
    hohenschonhausen_stasi_prison13-05-0...jpg
  • The kitchen of an abandoned in the former Russian Soviet army camp in occupied East Germany ex-GDR/DDR, on 16th June 19990, on Halb Insel Wustrow, near Rostock, Germany. The occupants appear to have left in a hurry - or were careless enough to leave possessions and fresh fruit, now rotting on the kitchen table.
    soviet_village-16-06-1990.jpg
  • A deserted landscape of a street and overgrown paths and empty housing in the former Russian Soviet army camp in occupied East Germany ex-GDR/DDR, on 16th June 19990, on Halb Insel Wustrow, near Rostock, Germany. Wustrow was once a WW2 German anti-aircraft artillery position then housing civilian refugees before the eventual Soviet occupation of the former DDR during the Cold War, up until 1990 and the fall of communism and the Berlin Wall. The camp was ransacked and all its assets stripped before its desertion that summer and is a reminder of a fallen ideology.
    soviet_village-16-06-1990_1.jpg
  • Old Soviet parade ground murals show the physical style of Russian marching techniques in the former Russian Soviet army camp in occupied East Germany ex-GDR/DDR, on 16th June 19990, on Halb Insel Wustrow, near Rostock, Germany. Wustrow was once a WW2 German anti-aircraft artillery position then housing civilian refugees before the eventual Soviet occupation of the former DDR during the Cold War, up until 1990 and the fall of communism and the Berlin Wall. The camp was ransacked and all its assets stripped before its desertion that summer and is a reminder of a fallen ideology.
    soviet_village-16-06-1990_3.jpg
  • Old Soviet parade ground illustrations show self-defence positions for Russian soldiers in the former Russian army camp in occupied East Germany ex-GDR/DDR, on 16th June 19990, on Halb Insel Wustrow, near Rostock, Germany. Wustrow was once a WW2 German anti-aircraft artillery position then housing civilian refugees before the eventual Soviet occupation of the former DDR during the Cold War, up until 1990 and the fall of communism and the Berlin Wall. The camp was ransacked and all its assets stripped before its desertion that summer and is a reminder of a fallen ideology.
    soviet_village-16-06-1990_2.jpg
  • Six months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the last Trabant cars go through the factory production line, on 1st June 1990, in Zwickau, eastern Germany former DDR. The DDR-produced Trabant suffered poor performance, but its smoky two-stroke engine regarded with affection as a symbol of the more positive sides of East Germany. Many East Germans streamed into West Berlin and West Germany in their Trabants after the opening of the Berlin Wall. It was in production without any significant change for nearly 30 years. The name Trabant means fellow traveler in German.
    trabant_factory-15-06-1990_1.jpg
  • Six months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a young man sells memorabilia and merchandise from the former DDR DGR at a market stall near the Brandenburg Gate, on 1st June 1990, in Berlin, Germany.
    selling_DDR-01-06-1990.jpg
  • A new Trabant car shell is lifted by forklift from a truck at the East German auto maker VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau in Zwickau, Saxony.  A worker carefully manoeuvres the unfinished bodywork into a crate where other vehicles await completion on the production line. The Trabant was the most common vehicle in East Germany - Like the Beetle in the West, its Peoples' Car with a 595 cc, two-cylinder air-cooled engine. It had space for four, was compact, light and durable with its distinctive body shape constructed from Duroplast panels attached to a galvanized steel shell. It was in production without any significant changes for about 34 years, becoming a symbol for the cheap, cheerful and polluting possessions for Communist Europeans. When the Berlin Wall eventually fell, Trabants coughed and spluttered onto West German roads for the first time
    DDR_travel03-06_1990_1.jpg
  • Six months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the last Trabant cars await buyers outside the factory production line, on 1st June 1990, in Zwickau, eastern Germany former DDR. The DDR-produced Trabant suffered poor performance, but its smoky two-stroke engine regarded with affection as a symbol of the more positive sides of East Germany. Many East Germans streamed into West Berlin and West Germany in their Trabants after the opening of the Berlin Wall. It was in production without any significant change for nearly 30 years. The name Trabant means fellow traveler in German.
    DDR_trabant-01-06-1990_2.jpg
  • Six months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a Trabant car sits wrecked on the corner of Mollstrasse and Hans-Beimler-Strasse in east Berlin former DDR, on 1st June 1990, in Berlin, Germany. The DDR-produced Trabant suffered poor performance, but its smoky two-stroke engine regarded with affection as a symbol of the more positive sides of East Germany. Many East Germans streamed into West Berlin and West Germany in their Trabants after the opening of the Berlin Wall. It was in production without any significant change for nearly 30 years. The name Trabant means fellow traveler in German.
    DDR_trabant-01-06-1990.jpg
  • A detail from the oversized artwork entitled Brotherhood Kiss (Bruderkuss) by Dmitry Vrubel that once adorned a section of the notorious Berlin Wall in western Germany Russian. The two men are kissing on the lips, one of the most iconic paintings that symbolised a divided Europe during the Cold War. The Communist Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev kisses his East German (DDR) counterpart Erich Honecker, which was ultimately copied on to coffee cups and T-shirts across the world before being destroyed by the authorities. The artist was angry but he says he will paint a new image which was derived from a photograph of the two leaders taken 1979 but became a potent symbol of Communism's corruption and ultimate failure.
    berlin_wall_gallery05-06-04-2013_1.jpg
  • A detail from the oversized artwork entitled Brotherhood Kiss (Bruderkuss) by Dmitry Vrubel that once adorned a section of the notorious Berlin Wall in western Germany Russian. The two men are kissing on the lips, one of the most iconic paintings that symbolised a divided Europe during the Cold War. The Communist Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev kisses his East German (DDR) counterpart Erich Honecker, which was ultimately copied on to coffee cups and T-shirts across the world before being destroyed by the authorities. The artist was angry but he says he will paint a new image which was derived from a photograph of the two leaders taken 1979 but became a potent symbol of Communism's corruption and ultimate failure.
    berlin_wall_gallery01-06-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Six months after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Communist Eastern Bloc, two east German women walk past a closed and decaying Pharmacy and photography business where a poster advertising a New Germany weekly newspaper has been attached to a rotting door, on 15th June 1990, in Zwickau, eastern Germany former DDR.
    90s_germany-15-06-1990.jpg
  • A year after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Communist Eastern Bloc, are the partially-collapsed ballustrade and porch of a semi-derelict German house, on 4th November 1990, in Leipzig, Germany.
    90s_germany-15-06-1990_10.jpg
  • A year after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Communist Eastern Bloc, the stone decoration on an office building wall has been eaten away by atmospheric pollution, on 4th November 1990, in Leipzig, Germany.
    90s_germany-15-06-1990_9.jpg
  • Six months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the last Trabant cars come off the factory production line, on 1st June 1990, in Zwickau, eastern Germany former DDR. The DDR-produced Trabant suffered poor performance, but its smoky two-stroke engine regarded with affection as a symbol of the more positive sides of East Germany. Many East Germans streamed into West Berlin and West Germany in their Trabants after the opening of the Berlin Wall. It was in production without any significant change for nearly 30 years. The name Trabant means fellow traveler in German.
    DDR_trabant-01-06-1990_1.jpg
  • Six months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, an elderly lady is handed her change after buying some cauliflowers at a market stall, on 1st June 1990, in Leipzig, eastern Germany former DDR.
    DDR_market_stall-01-06-1990.jpg
  • Six months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a lady shovels East German Lignite coal briketts left outside her home, on 1st June 1990, in Aue, Saxony, eastern Germany former DDR. The coal was delivered as Briketts and was either Lignite or Braunkohle, imported from either Poland or northern Czech Republic.
    DDR_coal_lady-01-06-1990.jpg
  • A year after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Communist Eastern Bloc, sunbathing Germans face away from the wind on the beach at the Baltic coast, a region of East Germany, 1st June 1990, Bezirk Rostock, eastern Germany former DDR. The Bezirk Rostock, the northernmost part of the DDR, was on the coast of the Baltic Sea, in front of the Danish coasts. It bordered with the Bezirke of Schwerin and Neubrandenburg, with Poland and West Germany.
    90s_germany-15-06-1994.jpg
  • A year after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Communist Eastern Bloc, a cigarette brand marketing lady  hands out promos for Prince of Denmark and photographs unhappy-looking former east Germans with a Polaroid camera in Leipzigs town square, on 4th November 1990, in Leipzig, Germany.
    90s_germany-15-06-1990_11.jpg
  • A year after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Communist Eastern Bloc, a wooden crate of cauliflowers are displayed underneath the prices of other vegetables at a street market in Leipzig in eastern Germany, on 4th November 1990, in Leipzig, Germany.
    90s_germany-15-06-1990_8.jpg
  • A year after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Communist Eastern Bloc era, German youths gather at a war memorial, on 4th November 1990, in Berlin, Germany.
    90s_germany-15-06-1990_1.jpg
  • Six months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a pair of hands cup some nuts that go towards the construction of Trabant cars at the car factory in the former East Germany DDR where the last Trabants await buyers outside the factory production line, on 1st June 1990, in Zwickau, eastern Germany former DDR. The DDR-produced Trabant suffered poor performance, but its smoky two-stroke engine regarded with affection as a symbol of the more positive sides of East Germany. Many East Germans streamed into West Berlin and West Germany in their Trabants after the opening of the Berlin Wall. It was in production without any significant change for nearly 30 years. The name Trabant means fellow traveler in German.
    trabant_factory-15-06-1990.jpg
  • A coal delivery man deposits chunks of brown coal into the cellar via a conveyor belt for an elderly lady who stands outside in the bitter cold wearing only a housecoat this grim day. Her slippers can be seen standing among fallen briquettes that have dropped on to the wet cobbled street as the man oversees the delivery from a truck that has backed on to the pavement near a junction. A passing Trabant car rattles up the hill past a mother who pauses to ensure a safe crossing for her baby. Aue is a mining town in the Ore Mountains known for its copper, titanium, and kaolinite. The town was a machine-building and cutlery manufacturing centre in the East German era with a population of roughly 18,000 inhabitants. It was the administrative seat of the former district of Aue-Schwarzenberg in Saxony and part of the Erzgebirgskreis since August 2008..
    DDR_travel04-06_1990_1.jpg
  • A young skateboarder leaps into the air beneath the huge memorial to the German Communist leader Ernst Thalmann, the leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) during much of the Weimar Republic. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1933 and held in solitary confinement for eleven years, before being shot in Buchenwald on Adolf Hitler's orders in 1944. The Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation, consisting of the Young Pioneers and the Thälmann Pioneers, was a youth scouting-styled organisation of schoolchildren aged 6 to 14, in East Germany. Its motto was" "Für Frieden und Sozialismus seid bereit – Immer bereit" ("For peace and socialism be ready - always ready") but the Pioneers were disbanded in 1989 after early protests here in Leipzig at the same time as the Berlin Wall and the Socialist state's fall.
    DDR_travel05-06_1990_1.jpg
  • The blackened and ricochet-scarred stonework of an old building dating from before the second world war, marked during the battle for the city during the fall of the Third Reich, the end of Nazi fascism in the spring of 1945. Rising up high from street level, the old era from German histoary represents a former empire (Reich) when grand buildings and boulevardes formed a city largely devastated by warfare.
    berlin_war_damage01-05-04-2013_1.jpg
  • A detail from the oversized artwork entitled Brotherhood Kiss (Bruderkuss) by Dmitry Vrubel that once adorned a section of the notorious Berlin Wall in western Germany Russian. Two seemingly gay men are kissing on the lips but this is one of the most famous paintings – a symbol of a divided Europe during the Cold War. It shows Communist Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev kissing his East German (DDR) counterpart Erich Honecker, which was ultimately copied on to coffee cups and T-shirts across the world before being destroyed by the authorities. The artist was angry but he says he will paint a new image which was derived from a photograph of the two leaders taken 1979 but became a potent symbol of Communism's corruption and ultimate failure.
    berlin_wall_kiss-04-11-1990_1.jpg
  • A year after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Communist Eastern Bloc era, pro-Communist Germans carrying Soviet and DDR flags march in Berlin, on 4th November 1990, in Berlin, Germany.
    90s_germany-15-06-1990_4.jpg
  • Months after the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the communist GDR state German Democratic Republic, a 1990s tin of Deutschmark and Pfennig coins are on a cauliflower market stall, on 15th June 1990, in Leipzig, Eastern Germany.
    deutschmarks_tin02-15-06-1990.jpg
  • Actors in US and Soviet army uniforms hold flags to recount German history during the second world war and later, the cold war - beneath the Brandenburg Gate in Unter den Linden in central Berlin, Germany. The site is near the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. Here also, Berlin was separated by the occupying sectors of US, British, French and Soviet forces after WW2. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany.
    brandenburg_gate_tourism02-05-04-201...jpg
  • Visitors enjoy the art on the old Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery, the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    berlin_wall_gallery04-06-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Visitors enjoy the art on the old Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery, the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    berlin_wall_gallery08-06-04-2013_1.jpg
  • World dictators adorn old sections of the old Berlin Wall <br />
opposite the former Checkpoint Charlie, the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    berlin_wall_dictators02-05-04-2013_1.jpg
  • World dictators adorn old sections of the old Berlin Wall <br />
opposite the former Checkpoint Charlie, the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    berlin_wall_dictators03-05-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Colourfully-painted sections of the old Berlin Wall are exhibited by local artists opposite the former Checkpoint Charlie, the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    berlin_wall_art02-05-04-2013_1.jpg
  • An image of Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan, adorns an old section of the old Berlin Wall opposite the former Checkpoint Charlie, the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    berlin_wall_dictators01-05-04-2013_1.jpg
  • A painted section of the old Berlin wall standing in a pedestrian precinct, near Checkpoint Charlie in central Berlin. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the Communist German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    bderlin_wall01-05-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Months after the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the communist GDR state German Democratic Republic, a 1990s tin of Deutschmark and Pfennig coins are on a cauliflower market stall, on 15th June 1990, in Leipzig, Eastern Germany.
    deutschmarks_tin01-15-06-1990.jpg
  • Visitors learning about the Berlin Wall read outdoor exhibition panels near the former Checkpoint Charlie, the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    checkpoint_charlie_tourists02-05-04-...jpg
  • Visitors enjoy the art and an old Trabant car at the old Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery, the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. Trabants were the common Socialist vehicle in East Germany, exported to countries both inside and outside the communist bloc. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    berlin_wall_gallery12-06-04-2013_1.jpg
  • Awaiting the call-up from superior officers, a phalanx of German riot police stand in their ranks, with shields resting on the ground of a central Berlin park. Their orders will be to keep control of protesters in the former eastern sector of the German city, in the months after the fall of the Wall and the communist state, the GDR (German Democratic Republic) or DDR. Because Germany is now one country (though reunification itself has yet to happen), West German officers of the Bundespolizei (BPOL) which is the uniformed federal police force of Germany, wait patiently for orders from their western masters. The Bundespolizei consists of around 40,000 personnel, from border control, aviation wings, civil servants, immigration services and riot control (Beweissicherungs and Festnahmeeinheit).
    berlin_riot-04-11-1990_1.jpg
  • World dictators (incl Syrian President Bashir al-Assad) adorn old sections of the old Berlin Wall opposite the former Checkpoint Charlie, the former border between Communist East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
    berlin_wall_dictators04-05-04-2013_1.jpg
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