03/04/2007 | Sony Centre, Potsdamer Platz

The new Sony Centre near Potsdamer Platz. This area has been completely rebuilt since 1995 as the Berlin Wall ran through this area.

When the city was divided into sectors by the occupying Allies at the end of the war, the square found itself on the boundary between the American, British, and Soviet sectors. With the construction of the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961 along this intracity frontier, Potsdamer Platz found itself divided in two. What had once been a busy intersection had become desolate. With the clearance of ruined buildings on both sides (on the eastern side, this was done chiefly to give border guards a clear view of would-be escapees and an uninterrupted line of fire), almost nothing was left in an area of dozens of hectares.

06:19 Posted in Germany, May 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)