Berlin: a city united
John Robert Young first visited Berlin in the early 1960’s before the Berlin Wall was demolished and driving through the GDR witnessed the stark comparison between East and West Germany. Photographed before and after unification these images reflect the amazing reconstruction of a once divided city, but with powerful reminders of the cost of division.
East Berlin 1967: The autobahn out of Berlin, constructed prior to the erection of the Berlin Wall.
East Berlin 1967: Showing the destruction of WW2.
East Berlin 1967: A building destroyed in WW2 and still decaying.
East Berlin 1967: The bleak no man's land where a sign warns the individual that he is leaving the American Sector.
East Berlin 1967: A resident on a bomb damaged site.
In contrast to the East Side Gallery, the other side of the Berlin Wall is totally covered with graffiti.
The Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin attracts visitors from all over the world.
Hauptbahnhof', Berlin’s Central Local and International Railway Station.
The ‘Berliner Dom’ or Berlin Cathedral is the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church in Berlin.
The Federal Ministry Building of the Interior.
Historical industrial building along the Landwehr Canal.
This modern building, on the east bank of the River Spree, stretches over both sides of the original course of the Berlin Wall, and is a memorial to its victims.
The bleak area yet to be developed, that is Warschauer Strasse Station in the old East Berlin.
The Reichstag badly damaged in WW2 is now part of the Bundestag, Germany’s Parliament.
The Olympic Stadium built by Hitler for the 1936 Olympics.
Interior of the Olympic Stadium built by Hitler for the 1936 Olympics.
Inside the Sony Centre at Potsdamer Platz.
The East Side Gallery is an international memorial for freedom. It is a 1.3km long section of the Berlin Wall. Painted in 1990 following the fall of the Berlin Wall there are 105 paintings by artists from all over the world.
East Side Gallery: Painting by Russian artist Michael Sererbrjakow.
Fernsehturm, a TV tower in the city centre of Berlin.
Paul Loebe Haus, part of the Bundestag.
The Jewish Memorial in Berlin also known as the 'Holocaust Memorial’.
Berlin Wall Victims Memorial. The fence along the boundary of the Tiergarten in Ebertstrasse has white crosses with the names, pictures and dates of death of people who died attempting to cross the Berlin Wall.
The interior of the glass Dome on top of the Reichstag.
Apartments and shops, now refurbished, in the NE of Berlin, formerly in the Eastern Sector of the city. This area of the city has an efficient tram network.
Water pipes needed for reconstruction are a feature of Berlin, here seen around Potsdamer Platz.
East Side Gallery, Berlin Wall Sadly most to the paintings have been defaced by graffiti.