30 Vintage Photographs Captured Street Scenes of Berlin in the 1920s

1920s Berlin was a city of many social contrasts. While a large part of the population continued to struggle with high unemployment and deprivations in the aftermath of World War I, the upper class of society, and a growing middle class, gradually rediscovered prosperity and turned Berlin into a cosmopolitan city.

Here, a selection of 31 amazing vintage photographs that show street scenes of Berlin during the 1920s.

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30 Amazing Vintage Photographs That Capture Everyday Life in Berlin During the 1920s

The Golden Twenties in Berlin was a vibrant period in the history of Berlin, Germany, Europe and the history of the world in general. After the Greater Berlin Act the city became the third largest municipality in the world.

Berlin experienced its heyday as a major world city and was known for its leadership roles in science, the humanities, music, film, higher education, government, diplomacy, industries and military affairs.

These 30 amazing vintage photographs below will show daily life of Berlin during the 1920s.

Newspaper sellers on seat sticks, Berlin, 1927.

Street scene, Berlin, 1928.

Friedrichstrasse, Berlin, ca. 1927.

Berlin, 1927.

School children, Berlin, 1925.

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22 Amazing Bird-Eye View Photos of Berlin Shortly After World War II

Following the end of World War II, photographer Hein Gorny took spectacular aerial shots of the ravaged German capital. These were the first, if not only, photos of Berlin taken by a German photographer just a few months after the end of the war.

The square in front of Brandenburg Gate.

Brandenburg Gate

Berlin Reichstag: The towers of the building were expanded in 1941 to serve as flak towers. The cellar was used as a birthing clinic by the local hospital during the war.

The Victory Column.

Pariser Platz: The neoclassical Brandenburg Gate is the only remaining city gate of Berlin. It survived World War II despite severe damage to the quadriga on top and the complete destruction of one column.

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Rare Color Photographs Captured Everyday Life Inside Berlin's Marienfelde Refugee Transit Camp in 1961

Marienfelde refugee transit camp in Marienfelde, Berlin, was one of three camps operated by West Germany during the cold war for dealing with the great waves of immigration from East Germany, especially between 1950 and 1961. Refugees arriving in West Berlin were sent to the center where they received medical treatment, food, identification papers, and housing until they could be permanently re-settled in the West. Below are some of rare color photographs that capture daily life inside Berlin's Marienfelde refugee transit camp in September 1961.

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Socialist Fraternal Kiss: Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker Change Kisses, 1979

The socialist fraternal kiss or socialist fraternal embrace is a special form of greeting between the statesmen of Communist countries. This act demonstrates the special connection that exists between Socialist states. The socialist fraternal kiss consisted of an embrace, combined with a series of three kisses on alternate cheeks. In rare cases, when the two leaders considered themselves exceptionally close, the kisses were given on the mouth rather than on the cheeks.

Since the end of Communism in eastern Europe, the socialist fraternal kiss has died out. However, the socialist fraternal embrace continues to be exchanged between Communist leaders in Asia. In addition, Cuba has also adopted the Asian form of the ritual.

This well-known photograph capturing the famed embrace was taken by Régis Bossu in East Berlin on October 7, 1979.

On October 4th, 1979 Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, arrived in East Berlin for the 30th anniversary celebration of the German Democratic Republic’s founding as a Communist republic. He met with leaders, made a speech, and on October 5th “signed an economic accord [that day] that will provide East German with Soviet oil, gas and nuclear equipment until 1990 in exchange for ships, tool-making machinery and chemical equipment”.

Two days later, during festivities, photographer Regis Bossu captured a moment when Erich Honecker, General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of the German Democratic Republic, and Leonid Brezhnev engaged in a kiss. This kiss is known as a socialist fraternal kiss, combining the culture of Europe (cheek-kissing) and the connection between Communist countries. (“Socialist Fraternal Kiss”). This greeting had its meaning in the strength of the connection of between the German Democratic Republic and the Soviet Union. The photograph became a rapidly reproduced image in print.

In 1990 after the fall of the German Democratic Republic, and the Berlin Wall with it, part of the wall was transformed into an open art gallery, the East Side Gallery. Murals and graffiti paintings were put upon these walls. Among the many was Dmitri Vrubel’s mural My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love. This mural is a painted representation of the photograph of the Brezhnev-Honecker kiss that was captured by Bossu. The mural as graffiti is not done out of immediate reaction. Leonid Brezhnev had died in 1982. The German Democratic Republic had collapsed and reunited with West Germany. Erich Honecker was in exile and on the run. The Soviet Union was soon to be overthrown as well. Vrubel’s mural, eleven years after the image, was a late response. It re-popularized the image.

Dmitri Vrubel’s mural My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love.

Along with other murals in the section, the painting continued in display after the wall was taken down, but vandalism and atmospheric conditions gradually led to its deterioration. In March 2009, the painting, along with others, was erased from the wall to allow the original artists to repaint them with more durable paints. Vrubel was commissioned to repaint the piece, donating the €3000 fee he was paid to a social art project in Marzahn.

Photographer Bossu and Vrubel met in 2009 and were photographed together on 16 June with reproductions of their works.

Photographer Regis Bossu, left, and Russian artist Dimitri Vrubel meet in in front of the East Side Gallery. Bossu holds a copy of his photo while Vrubel has a copy of the painting based on the photo.

Emotional Vintage Photos of Children Playing at the Berlin Wall in 1963

Thomas Hoepker is one of the most acclaimed Magnum photographers. He has been working as a photojournalist for 60 years and captured life in East Germany from 1959 to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Below is a collection of interesting black and white photographs of children playing along the Berlin Wall taken by Hoepker in 1963.

Child with scooter at the Berlin Wall. This pedestrian way belongs to the Soviet Sector of Berlin.

Two boys in leather shorts standing on a viewing platform at the western side of the Berlin Wall.

Children playing at the Berlin Wall in Berlin Wedding.

A child playing by the Berlin Wall. The latin words "IN TYRANNOS" has been written in capital letters on the Wall. West-Berlin.

A man takes souvenir photos of his sons at the Berlin Wall near Bernauer Strasse. West-Berlin Wedding.

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Here’s the Last Known Picture of Hitler, It Was Taken Two Days Prior to His Death on April 28, 1945

Shortly before committing suicide in his underground Führerbunker, Hitler stepped outside with an SS officer to survey nearby bomb damage from Allied forces.

(UKTV History)

This last known picture of Hitler was taken approximately two days prior to his death as he stands outside his Berlin bunker entrance surveying the devastating bomb damage. With Germany lying in ruins after six years of war, and with defeat imminent, Hitler decided to take his own life. But before doing so, he married Eva Braun and then penned his last will and testament. The next day in the afternoon on April 30, 1945 Braun and Hitler entered his living room to end their lives.

Later that afternoon the remaining members of the bunker community found Hitler slumped over, and blood spilled over the arm of the couch. Eva was sitting at the other end. Hitler had killed himself by biting down on a cyanide capsule while shooting him self in the head. Eva only used the cyanide capsule. Hitler committed suicide two days before the surrender of Berlin to the Soviets on May 2, and just over a week before the end of World War II in Europe on May 8.

(via Rare Historical Photos)

Photos of Berlin at the End of the War in 1945

Berlin as the capital and cultural center of the German Reich was bombed very heavily. With over 45,000 tons of bombs in two weeks the city was almost completely destroyed. The irreplaceable architectural gems of the Schlüter, Knobelsdorf, Schadow and Schinkel were annihilated. Palaces, museums, churches, monuments and cultural sites fell victim to the bombs. Overall, Berlin was bombed 363 times by British, American and Russian aircraft. About 50,000 civilians were killed. They burned, suffocated, were buried under the ruins or lacerated by the bombs.

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Pictures of Passover at Home and at the Synagogue in Berlin From ca. 1946 to the 1950s

Passover is an important biblically derived Jewish festival. The Jewish people celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation over 3,300 years ago by God from slavery in ancient Egypt that was ruled by the Pharaohs, and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses. It commemorates the story of the Exodus as described in the Hebrew Bible especially in the Book of Exodus, in which the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt.

Here, below is a collection of black and white photographs show Passover at home and at the synagogue in Berlin in 1945 from ca. 1946 to ca. 1950s.

A child asking her elders ritual question during the Passover seder.

A woman and her child reading the bulletin board outside a synagouge during Passover.

Jewish men attending the synagogue during Passover.

A family and their guests having Passover Eve seder.

Torah scrolls being read to the congregation in the synagogue during Passover.

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Black and White Photographs of Berlin From 1978-1998

Gerd Danigel was born in 1959 in East Berlin. In his school days, he found an insatiable passion for painting and drawing. His goal was not the abstract, but the exact representation of what is seen.

When Gerd was about 14, he borrowed from his sister a Penti 2 half frame camera and learned the basic techniques of negative and positive photo processing. From 1979 until today more than 200 cameras went through his hands, he used them to took a lot of photographs of Berlin. Below is a small selection of interesting black and white photographs of Berlin from between 1978 and 1998 taken by Gerd Danigel.

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Color Photographs of Berlin in 1937

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Old Photos of Life Around the Berlin Wall in the 1960s

This is what everyday life around the Berlin Wall in the 1960s looked like.

A German women hangs clothing out to dry on a line strung between a tree and the Berlin Wall, Germany, November 13, 1963 (Photo by Express Newspapers/Getty Images).

Two men open a hollow metal drum used by three West German men to bring their girlfriends over the border from East Berlin, Germany, 1965. (Photo by Express Newspapers/Getty Images)

Sightseers climb onto a bus to look at the newly-built Berlin Wall. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). 1964

Officers inspecting the damage to the Berlin Wall, East Germany, and making preparations for its repair, after an East German rammed the Wall with an army car and successfully escaped. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). 1963

A barricade erected by the East German authorities to strengthen the existing barriers dividing East and West Berlin. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images). 22nd November 1961

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