The photograph shows the Kurfürstendamm in West Berlin with the distinctive Café Kranzler and the Kurfürstendamm U-Bahn entrance – one of the central commercial streets of the divided city. It was taken in the context of U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s visit to Germany from June 23 to 26, 1963, whose Berlin leg took place on June 26. West Berlin was regarded at that time as a symbol of Western resistance during the Cold War; the Kurfürstendamm embodied the economic recovery of the Federal Republic in contrast to East Germany.