Germany - Berlin,The Victory Column

Berlin, Baukrane mit Siegessaule
(Berlin, Cranes with Siegessaule (The Victory Column))
2009

Germany - Berlin Metro Map

Berlin Metro Map
Tarifbereich Berlin
2009

Germany - Berlin, Oberbaumbrucke bridge

Berlin, Oberbaumbrücke
Foto: Dietrich Bojko
2009

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The Oberbaumbrücke is a double-deck bridge that crosses the Berlin's River Spree. It is considered one of the city landmarks. It links Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg, former city districts that were divided by the Berlin Wall, and has become an important symbol of Berlin’s unity.

Germany - Berlin, Bellevue Palace

The sender writes:
I live in Berlin and I love this city.  On this card you see "Bellevue", the place where our president lives.
2015

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Bellevue Palace (Schloss Bellevue), located in Berlin's Tiergarten district, has been the official residence of the President of Germany since 1994.  It was designed by architect Michael Philipp Boumann and was built in 1786.

Germany - Berlin Wall Art, Eyes

Eine Karte aus dem ADMOS - postkartenbuch "Mauerkunst"
Foto: Erhard Pansegrau

the sender translates:
A card from the ADMOS postcard book "Wall Art"
Photo: Erhard Pansegrau
2010

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On November 9, 2009, Berlin celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Numerous events took place around the city including the restoration of the East Side Gallery - a 1.3km long section of the wall located along the bank of the Spree River. Initially created in 1989/1990, the wall is a memorial for freedom and is thought to be the largest open air gallery in the world, containing about 106 paintings by artists from all over the world.

Over the last 2 decades, time, weather, pollution, and vandals have taken their toll and the wall has been crumbling and the paint peeling and fading.  Since early 2009, almost 90 artists have worked to repaint their original creations, restoring it to it’s former glory.

The artists “have conveyed a second time their genuine euphoria from 1990,” said Kani Alavi, who heads the East Side Gallery Artists’ Association and was a driving force behind the restoration. “Twenty years after the fall of the wall, the East Side Gallery stands for democracy and human rights”.

The wall is a popular tourist attraction and the Berlin City Government contributed more than 2 million euros to help fund the restoration.

(The above postcard is a picture on that wall)

Germany - Berlin, Reichstag, The Most Beautiful Views

Berlin
Reichstag
Die schonsten Ansichten

(Reichstag
The most beautiful views)
2010

Germany - Berlin, Brandenburg Gate

Brandenburger Tor
Brandenburg Gate

Photo: Siegfried Layda
2014

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The Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate in Berlin, rebuilt in the late 18th century, and now one of the most well-known landmarks of Germany.

It was commissioned by King Frederick William II of Prussia as a sign of peace and built by Carl Gotthard Langhans from 1788 to 1791 and was fully restored from 2000 to 2002.

Europe Map in 3-D, Day View and Night View

Europe by Day and Night
Data: NASA Earth Observatory
in 3D

This is the day picture, the night picture is all dark with all the city lights turned on so you can still see the outline of the land and where the cities are.
2011

Shown are major cites for Spain, England, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia.

Germany - Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie

Berlin - Checkpoint Charlie 1961
FriedrichstraBe (Checkpoint Charlie) heute
(Frederick Street (Checkpoint Charlie) today)
2013

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Checkpoint Charlie (or "Checkpoint C") was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War.

Checkpoint Charlie has become a major tourist attraction in Berlin. An open-air exhibit was opened during the summer of 2006. Gallery walls along the streets Friedrichstraße and Zimmerstraße show information on escape attempts, how the checkpoint was expanded, and its significance during the Cold War. 

Germany - Berlin, Tierpark - Friedrichsfelde Castle

Berlin-Friedrichsfelde
Tierpark Berlin

Photo and Design: Lena Belenkaya
2013

shown is Friedrichsfelde Castle

Germany - Exit Certificate of the Former GDR (East Germany)

The sender writes that this is an Exit Certificate (a final one) of the former GDR
2013

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The Inner German border was the frontier between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990. Not including the similar but physically separate Berlin Wall, the border was 1,393 kilometres (866 mi) long and ran from the Baltic Sea to Czechoslovakia.

It was formally established on 1 July 1945 as the boundary between the Western and Soviet occupation zones of Germany. On the eastern side, it was made one of the world's most heavily fortified frontiers, defined by a continuous line of high metal fences and walls, barbed wire, alarms, anti-vehicle ditches, watchtowers, automatic booby traps and minefields. It was patrolled by 50,000 armed GDR guards who faced tens of thousands of West German, British and U.S. guards and soldiers.

The inner German border was never entirely sealed in the fashion of the border between the two Koreas and could be crossed in either direction throughout the Cold War.  The post-war agreements on the governance of Berlin specified that the Western Allies were to have access to the city via defined air, road, rail and river corridors. This was 'mostly' respected by the Soviets and East Germans, albeit with periodic interruptions and harassment of travelers.

From 1945 onwards, unauthorised crossers of the inner German border risked being shot by Soviet or East German guards. The use of deadly force was termed the Schießbefehl ("order to fire" or "command to shoot").  A regulation issued to East German police on 27 May 1952 stipulated that "failure to obey the orders of the Border Patrol will be met by the use of arms." From the 1960s through to the end of the 1980s, the border guards were given daily verbal orders (Vergatterung) to "track down, arrest or annihilate violators.

It is still not certain how many people died on the inner German border or who they all were, as the GDR treated such information as a closely guarded secret. But estimates have risen steadily since unification, as evidence has been gathered from East German records. As of 2009, unofficial estimates are up to 1,100 people, though officially released figures give a count from 270 up to 421 deaths.

The fall of the inner German border came rapidly in November 1989, along with the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Germany - Berlin Sony-Center

Berlin
Sony Center
Das Sony-Center am Potsdamer Platz mit seiner futuristischen Architedur (erbaut 2000) - ein Ensemble aus sieben Glas - und Stahlbauten mit Kinos, Restaurants, dem Filmmuseum Berlin und der Sony-Europazentrale.

translation:

The Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz with its futuristic Architedur (built in 2000) - an ensemble of seven glass - and steel structures with cinemas, restaurants, the Berlin Film Museum and the Sony's European headquarters.
2012