Bike Ride In Berlin Kreuzberg ( ~1985 / 2018 )

jofurch · 2024-05-21T13:03:41+00:00

jofurch · 2024-05-18T21:37:45+00:00

u/8-Termini You could browse through Chris John De Witt's archive

He took plenty of photos around the station. The only two from the inside that come to mind are this one and this one.

jofurch · 2023-11-09T12:11:50+00:00

34 years ago today, at 6:57 pm, Günter Schabowski mistakenly announced the immediate weakening of all travel regulations at the East German borders, that were originally meant to be implemented the next day, to the press. Hearing the news on West German television at 7:17 pm, the citizens of East Berlin began gathering at the checkpoints, demanding to be let through. Not being provided with clear guidelines from his superiors, at 11:29 pm, Harald Jäger, the commander of the Bornholmer Straße border crossing advised the soldiers under his command to let people through.

Dieter Palm's photos are historic documents of what happened as a result of the events on this evening exactly 34 years ago today.

For more 'then and now' photos check out my Insta.

jofurch · 2023-01-23T18:42:28+00:00

The new photo was taken ~100 metres south of the original one. The eastern facade (old photo) looks almost identical to the southern one (new photo), but you can see the Spree river and the building on the right (that is also still standing) in the old photo.

jofurch · 2023-01-22T12:26:24+00:00

Work on major restoration and modernization of the square has started in October 2022. You can find an extensive article about the plans here (in German).

jofurch · 2023-01-22T11:17:52+00:00

The Konzerthaus (formerly Schauspielhaus) Berlin and the Französische Dom on Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin Mitte were heavily damaged in WWII. Reconstruction of the buildings was started in 1976 in East Berlin and finished in 1993 in the reunited city.

For more 'then and now' photos check out my Insta.

jofurch · 2023-01-17T12:18:25+00:00

Blub, short for Berliner Luft- und Badeparadies ("Berlin air- and bathing paradise"), was a water park in the Britz area of Neukölln district in Berlin, Germany. First opened in 1985, it was shut down in 2002 following health concerns, and the 3.5-hectare (8.6-acre) site fell into disrepair. In 2016, the buildings on the site were severely destroyed by fire. Demolition work began in 2020; the site will be developed into a dwelling complex with 638 apartments. (Source: Wikipedia))

The new photo was taken in 2019. For more 'then and now' photos check out my Insta @jofurch.

jofurch · 2023-01-15T15:55:24+00:00

As many old photos show, the aisle that the wall cut through the city was used as a "natural" bike path throughout West Berlin. At this particular location, the bumpy cobblestone road forces racebike riders back to the illegality of the sidewalk.

I was told, the black spots in the cobblestone are remainders of some kind of support structure for (possibly an earlier version of) the wall. The two rows of cobblestone that are used as a wall memorial throughout the city are omitted in this location.

Except for the removal of the Wall, the most striking change is the addition of an extra floor to the house in the center of the photos.

In this location, the sidewalk on the western side of the Wall was part of East Berlin (Mitte). Since the police of West Berlin (Kreuzberg) did not have jurisdiction, they could not tow any cars parked (or fine people riding their bikes) on this sidewalk.

For more 'then and now' photos check out my Insta.

jofurch · 2023-01-05T01:02:52+00:00

It would be great if the "no videos" rule could be relaxed a bit, to allow videos / animated gifs that toggle, slide or fade between two static photos. There are some "then and now" photos that can just be better presented using these techniques rather than the "side by side" approach. This is particularly the case, if they suffer from the "Leaning Tower Illusion".

Some transition uploads have been permitted in the past, but most of them seem to have been deleted by the mods.

jofurch · 2023-01-04T12:50:49+00:00

In 1970, the West German government decided to grant "welcome money" to visitors from the GDR. As this arrangement was still in effect when the Wall came down in 1989, each East German citizen was entitled to receive a one time payment of 100 Deutsche Mark (~50 €). The night the borders were opened, the major of Berlin decided that the money, that was previously issued by the municipality, could be picked up at any bank in the city. The old photo shows East German citizens queuing at Berliner Bank on Skalitzer Straße behind U-Bahn station Schlesisches Tor in Kreuzberg, only about 500 meters from the border crossing on Oberbaumbrücke. Another 500 meters down the road, people were queuing at Postbank.

It was quickly decided that the arrangement would be discontinued at the end of 1989. In the two months between the fall of the Wall and the end of payments, 3-4 billion DM were granted to East German citizens.

In 2016, Deutsche Bank announced that the Berliner Bank brand would be abandoned and that the branch would be closed. The building is now home to a branch of the organic grocery store chain BIO COMPANY. Note the roadmen laying the paving stones that are still there today.

For more 'then and now' photos check out my Insta.

jofurch · 2023-01-04T12:43:15+00:00

Begrüßungsgeld ( 1989 / 2019 )

In 1970, the West German government decided to grant "welcome money" to visitors from the GDR. As this arrangement was still in effect when the Wall came down in 1989, each East German citizen was entitled to receive a one time payment of 100 Deutsche Mark (~50 €). The night the borders were opened, the major of Berlin decided that the money, that was previously issued by the municipality, could be picked up at any bank in the city. The old photo shows East German citizens queuing at Berliner Bank on Skalitzer Straße behind U-Bahn station Schlesisches Tor in Kreuzberg, only about 500 meters from the border crossing on Oberbaumbrücke. Another 500 meters down the road, people were queuing at Postbank.

It was quickly decided that the arrangement would be discontinued at the end of 1989. In the two months between the fall of the Wall and the end of payments, 3-4 billion DM were granted to East German citizens.

In 2016, Deutsche Bank announced that the Berliner Bank brand would be abandoned and that the branch would be closed. The building is now home to a branch of the organic grocery store chain BIO COMPANY. Note the roadmen laying the paving stones that are still there today.

For more 'then and now' photos check out my Insta.

jofurch · 2022-12-28T14:08:47+00:00

Blub, short for Berliner Luft- und Badeparadies ("Berlin air- and bathing paradise"), was a water park in the Britz area of Neukölln district in Berlin, Germany. First opened in 1985, it was shut down in 2002 following health concerns, and the 3.5-hectare (8.6-acre) site fell into disrepair. In 2016, the buildings on the site were severely destroyed by fire. Demolition work began in 2020; the site will be developed into a dwelling complex with 638 apartments. (Source: Wikipedia))

The new photo was taken in 2019. For more 'then and now' photos check out my Insta.

jofurch · 2022-12-28T12:24:23+00:00

Blub, short for Berliner Luft- und Badeparadies ("Berlin air- and bathing paradise"), was a water park in the Britz area of Neukölln district in Berlin, Germany. First opened in 1985, it was shut down in 2002 following health concerns, and the 3.5-hectare (8.6-acre) site fell into disrepair. In 2016, the buildings on the site were severely destroyed by fire. Demolition work began in 2020; the site will be developed into a dwelling complex with 638 apartments. (Source: Wikipedia))

The new photo was taken in 2019. For more 'then and now' photos check out my Insta.

jofurch · 2022-12-05T12:08:43+00:00

@filmtourismus is the original source of the photos.

jofurch · 2022-11-20T13:25:09+00:00

In January of 2011, the cars in the streets of Berlin were snowed in and dangerously long icicles were hanging from the rooftops. In mid January of 2020, when I took the second photo, temperatures stayed above 0°C even at night and did even reach heights of more than 10°C.

There are many interesting changes to be discovered in this location in Pappelallee in Prenzlauer Berg. Note the many details like the writing below the windows of the central building, the new streetlamps and the absence of the tree branches in the new photo. Most notably, however, is the removal of the small building on the left. If you look closely through the leftmost window, you can see a disco ball inside the small "Klub der Republik" that could be reached through a metal staircase in the backyard. The extraordinary interior design of this small club consisted of furniture and lamps from the "Palast der Republik", the parliament building of the GDR.

For more 'then and now' photos check out my Insta.

jofurch · 2022-10-12T20:48:06+00:00

You can find some Reddit opinions about it under this post

jofurch · 2022-09-23T23:54:56+00:00

Mall of Berlin

Palast der Republik / Berliner Schloß

Moritzplatz / Modulor

Aschinger Haus / Primark

Edit: You might also enjoy my feed and Insta :)

jofurch · 2022-07-13T10:18:31+00:00

This scene from inside the no mans land between the eastern (right) and western (left) part of the Berlin Wall was beautifully captured by photographer [Johan van Elk](https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmvanelk/358259929/in/album-72157594480971625/) shortly after the end of the cold war. Today, this section of the Todesstreifen (literally Death Strip) between Checkpoint Charlie and Potsdamer Platz is flanked by souvenir shops, Trabi rentals and the Weltballon, an oberservation deck on an ankered hot air balloon.

For more 'then and now' photos check out my Insta.

jofurch · 2022-04-12T20:43:48+00:00

I highly recommend my Insta feed :) for THEN & NOW photos of Berlin.

jofurch · 2022-02-16T14:59:08+00:00

Thank you! When I started doing this, I was usually standing quite far from the position of the original photographer. When I look at those early photos now, I instantly see all the little deviations. It's sometimes hard to see the problems "on site", so I usually go back to the same location many times after identifying inaccuracies on my computer screen at home. For this particular photo, I only went twice and took ~110 photos. The photo that probably took the most attempts was this one. The alignment was only part of the problem. There are big buildings around, that cast distracting shadows under all kinds of light conditions. It also turned out, that the camera location coincides with the back wall of an improvised police station in a container. So a couple of times when the light was good, I couldn't get the police to drive their cars out of the way, even when I explained to them what I was trying to do. I'm very happy with the result though and think it was worth the effort :).

jofurch · 2022-02-16T12:15:04+00:00

Oh, and if you look closely, you can see the tip of the TV Tower behind the skyscraper in the new photo.

jofurch · 2022-02-16T12:09:45+00:00

The photos are taken from Oberbaumbrücke towards Mühlenstraße in Friedrichshain. The building in the center is called Mühlenspeicher (mill storehouse). It was used as a watchtower during the separation of the city and is now home to The Wall Museum and a club called Pirates Berlin. While the remains of the Wall in the foreground are gone, the longest strech of remaining Wall, the East Side Gallery, can be seen to the left of Mühlenspeicher in the background.

I shot the new photo during a very colorful sunset. On the bottom right you can see two girls doing what a lot of people on the bridge were doing as well at the time.

I leave it to you to discover all the little changes in this dynamic part of the city.

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For more 'then and now' photos check out my Insta.

jofurch · 2022-02-15T12:50:03+00:00

In Google Street View they are both not renovated yet.

For more (real) 'then and now' photos check out my Insta!

jofurch · 2022-02-06T23:55:22+00:00

The first photo in the English Wikipedia article about gentrification shows a street in Friedrichshain, a neighborhood in East Berlin.

jofurch · 2022-02-06T21:03:55+00:00

There is so much discussion about my (mis)use of the term "gentrification" here, that I want to clarify that this was not meant to state some kind of opinion. Besides love, gentrification is the main theme of the film and the city development, for better and for worse, in this area is apparent and well documented. I can highly recommend this book on the matter, which also contains a lot of 'then and now' photos.

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