The photograph shows the Kurfürstendamm in the heart of West Berlin in summer 1955: cyclists, automobiles of the postwar generation, and pedestrians populate the broad grand boulevard. In the background of the image rises the destroyed tower ruin of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church — a war memorial deliberately preserved as a monument amid West Berlin’s flourishing commercial life. Large-format advertising signs for Nescafé and Dujardin Imperial as well as the Mercedes-Benz building on the left point to the beginning economic miracle (Wirtschaftswunder) and the consumption-oriented reconstruction of the West. The juxtaposition of lively department store traffic and the unmistakable war ruin makes the Kurfürstendamm in 1955 a striking symbol of divided Berlin: showcase of the West and stone memorial alike.