The bilingual sector sign at Pariser Platz marks in summer 1955 the border between the British Sector of West Berlin and the Soviet-controlled East Sector: in German it warns that West Berlin will be left in 70 meters; the English text below addresses Allied personnel. In the background rises the Brandenburg Gate, then located in no man’s land between the sectors and crowned by a flag; to the left are war-destroyed ruins, showing that reconstruction in this marginal location has scarcely begun. The nearly empty, broad street underscores the barrier effect of the inner-city border. The image concentrates Berlin’s Cold War situation: the former city gate of Prussia has become a symbol of division, guarded by Allied signage and flanked by rubble fields.