The sign marks the beginning of the Democratic Sector of Greater Berlin and stood in 1955 at one of the crossing points between the West Berlin and East Berlin sectors. The plain, large-format panel with its austere typography made the division of the city a visible, everyday fact: an invisible political border was materialized here in public space. In the background, barbed wire and buildings can be seen that suggest the control situation at the sector border. Such signs were characteristic features of divided Berlin during the Cold War and made unmistakably clear to passersby and visitors alike the transition between two political systems. The term “Democratic Sector” was the official designation used by East German authorities for the Soviet-controlled eastern part of Berlin—a propaganda term that reflected the ideological claims of the East German side.