On an autobahn near Checkpoint Dreilinden – West Berlin’s transit access through the Soviet occupation zone – a tank truck from the Berlin company Hempel passes an Allied warning sign. The English inscription ‘FOR THE NEXT 2 MILES YOU WILL BE IN THE SOVIET ZONE – DO NOT STOP’ was directed primarily at Allied military personnel and Western civilians traveling the transit route to West Berlin. The sign underscores Soviet control over the approach routes to the city and the permanent tension of the Cold War in everyday life in 1955. At the same time, the heavily laden Berlin tank truck demonstrates how indispensable the transit routes were for supplying West Berlin – a direct lesson from the blockade of 1948/49. The image exemplifies the divided city: West Berlin was an island in Soviet-controlled territory, accessible only via strictly monitored corridors.