Time for another strange postcard from the old divided Berlin! This time we will go to Sebastianstraße, for a postcard booming of gray and blue colors. This photo is shot a bit south of the East Berlin city core and as you can see on the postcard below the wall brutally cut through along the street. This place was very close to the border crossing at Heinrich-Heine-Straße which I wrote about in my last blog post.
Berlin wall at Sebastianstraße (click to enlarge)
This postcard is an excellent example of how brutal the wall could cut off the two city parts. The wall was built in the middle of the road, leaving only the walkway. The houses on the left side and the tall house at the end were all belonging to West Berlin. As you can see the wall was heavily painted by graffiti. This was very common and the graffiti was often political. I can not manage to read what the red banner on the house facade says, but it is very possible that it is put there to send some message over to the eastern side. Further ahead you can see how people and cars had to fit on the little strip left when the wall had eaten most of the street. When looking at the sky I almost get the impression that the photographer or the card publisher exaggerated it to give the picture some color, some life or... some freedom.
See the map below to see how the wall was stretched (the red line). The picture on this postcard is taken at the yellow mark. The purple mark close to the northwest of the yellow mark was the Heinrich-Heine-Straße border crossing. Sebastianstraße crosses the Heinrich-Heine-Straße just before that former border crossing. The Berlin wall stretch (in red) on the map is not yet complete, as the wall used to stretch all around West Berlin. I will paint the rest when I have time.
Show Berlin Wall on a larger map
When I had scanned this postcard and began to look around on Google Maps I could not find the nice old houses on the left side of the card. I was afraid that they by some reason hadn't survived the test of time. But to my big joy I found them after some searching! I had looked too far west, at the strip on the other side of the Heinrich-Heine-Straße. When looking more east, on the other side, I found it. And I was pleased to see that the houses are looking better than ever! Below you can navigate around the area today. The wall is long gone and it looks easier to park now! The eastern side is still an open area, one of many in Berlin that will be built one day. By some reason one of the houses at the left side is blurred out by Google when looking in some angles. I guess the house owners demanded that. I wonder why. The sky on the Google Streetview could really use some of that crazy blue sky from the postcard, as the picture is kind of dull.
Show Berlin Wall on a larger map
This backside is unwritten. The text only localizes the picture to "Sebastianstraße", a bit vague as the street is many hundred meters long.
Back side (click to enlarge)
Hope you liked this card as much as I did! I find it very fun to find those places again and look around!
