Berlin: Unter den Linden, "beneath the lime trees"

The lime trees are conspicuous by their absence, as are virtually all the citizens of East Berlin.

This broad avenue had been the major ceremonial avenue of the city; it lead from the Brandenburg Gate (at its Western end) to the University, German State Opera, Arsenal, an assortment of royal palaces and a further assortment of prestigious museums.

The missing trees had been chopped down for firewood towards the end of World War II and never replaced.

The missing Berliners are more of a puzzle, but any or all of the following factors may apply:
(1) This part of East Berlin was surrounded on three sides by the Western zones, so did not lie on the way to anywhere other than the Berlin Wall.
(2) There are no major factories or other notable workplaces in this area.
(3) The city's citizens might have been discouraged from making themselves too noticeable during the Party Congress.
(4) It was very cold on that day.
(5) The population of the GDR was low and in decline: low birth rates and mass defection to the west (until 1963) were major factors.



PHOTOGRAPHIC INFO:
Camera: Minolta M1 (35mm film)
Kodachrome slide: 1/60th sec, f/8
The film speed would have been either 25 or 64 ASA/ISO.

[this blip created in April 2014]