The photograph shows a bustling Berlin street market in summer 1955: several passersby stand in front of a generously stocked open-air stand, whose displays show apples, cherries, bananas, and an abundance of other fruit. A market attendant in an apron serves customers, while in the background a Gründerzeit market hall building and a tall tower are visible. The abundant merchandise on offer points to the beginning economic miracle (Wirtschaftswunder) in West Berlin and stands in deliberate contrast to the supply situation in East Berlin. As the “showcase of the West,” the western part of the divided city was meant to demonstrate the abundance of the market economy – Allied cameramen deliberately captured such scenes of everyday Berlin life for propagandistic and documentary purposes.