How Berlin rose from the ashes

29.05.2020 09:51

In one picture, Red Army soldiers stand guard outside a burning building in the east of Berlin with machine guns at the ready. Seven decades later, another shows a man cycling past the same scene, seemingly without a care in the world.

These astonishing photographs compare Berlin in 1945 - when the city was falling to the Soviets as they marched on Adolf Hitler's last line of defence - to the peaceful German capital now.

The incredible pictures from the end of the Second World War - in Europe, at least - were taken by Red Army photographer Georgiy Samsonov.

The images were unearthed by Fabrizio Bensch, who used black and white film to capture the exact same locations today - and the comparisons are extraordinary.

Soviet soldiers are seen celebrating outside the Reichstag in central Berlin just days after Adolf Hitler's suicide in 1945. The historic building bears the scars of the war, which saw it bombed on numerous occasions. The contrasting scene today shows people cycling past where artillery once stood, presumably on their way to work.

Other pictures show shaken German parents and children daring to leave their homes shortly after the end of the Battle of Berlin. The calm scene today shows Mercedes and BMWs parked up alongside the now upmarket street.

Another moving image shows Red Army troops pointing to a sign outside the New Reich Chancellery, the offices of Adolf Hitler. It took five years for the rubble of the Nazi stronghold to be cleared, but in its place now stand offices, social houses and - where the men posed for the photograph - a pre-school.

(dailymail.co.uk)