British Pathe

Pathe Pictorial looks at Berlin, Germany.

L/S Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Kurfuerstendamm. M/S sign Kurfuerstendamm. Various shots of bombed church, pan along streets showing no traffic. Various shots battered tram with missing windows. Good view Kurfuerstendamm pan along to Cafe Wien....

Pathe Pictorial looks at Berlin, Germany.

L/S Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Kurfuerstendamm. M/S sign Kurfuerstendamm. Various shots of bombed church, pan along streets showing no traffic. Various shots battered tram with missing windows. Good view Kurfuerstendamm pan along to Cafe Wien. M/S 2 young women and a man strolling, pan girl in unusual shoes (made from straw due to leather shortage?) Various shots of people sitting in cafe. Various shots of Berlin women in frumpy woollen stockings and tatty recycled dresses. Various shots of Ursula Bottcher window shopping. Area has been badly bombed during war, shop windows mostly empty - narrator comments that this was once "the Bond Street of Berlin". Good view Kleiner Tiergarten park. Several shots of elderly Germans, male and female, all looking sad. Various shots of market with poorly stocked stalls, people sell belongings to raise money for food. L/S Victory avenue, showing Victory Column at Tiergarten. Various shots of women working, moving rubble, cleaning bricks and pushing wagon full of rubble. Women look downtrodden and miserable.

C/U notice: "You Are Now Leaving the British Sector". C/U Union Jack flying. C/U Stars and Stripes flying. C/U French flag flying, on Victory Column, pan down Column to Union Jack. Good shot Reichstag in ruins pan to Russian War Memorial. Good view Soviet soldiers and wives walking down street. C/U two German police women. Panning shot group of Soviet soldiers walking past Reichstag (according to narrator they "didn't like being photographed"). C/U sign: "You Are Entering American Sector" in English. G/V American troops on street corner. G/V Brandenburg gate in ruins. Various shots Hitler's chancellery and interior shots showing ruins. M/S two British soldiers on ruins of Chancellery steps, a German youths tries to sell them an Iron Cross for British cigarettes. Panning shot over Berlin City. L/S Victory Avenue.

Note: unusually serious tone for a Pictorial item - a poignant look at harsh realities of life in post war Germany.