Photos of women in Berlin after May 1945

[colt45]

I asked why did you marry a black sgt? she said I can tell you stories that will make your hair white, I was raped about 7 times a day, starved, slepped where ever I could.. I learned English as fast as I could.Our Govt. lied to us, many girls killed themselves,,. we would marry anything just to get to New York or U.S.A.

[sir dude]

Yes. bad times for the German peoples. From memory 5 and a half million Germans died in WW2. - The half million died shorty after the war had finished !

[sir dude]

This is great website with loads of photos on this subject.
Cheers, sirdude.
Also a warning, there is a couple of disturbing images.

http://www.jamd.com/search?text=Berlin%20females%201945

[colt45]

I saw the monument of the German woman screeming "Stop the WAR" in Berlin, The U.S.Air Force planes dropped candybars for the starving kids after the surrender

[ghostsoldier]

Thanks for the link, sir dude...it is informative!

[Svetlana Karlin]

A few Bundesarchiv photos, all taken in 1946. Unfortunately, I don't remember the source websites since I downloaded them a long time ago.

Berlin Women and Their Homes

In a damaged apartment.


Balcony garden. Note the parquet floor. In fact, it's a room with a wall ripped out.


A "nest" in the ruins on the corner of Jagerstrasse and Otto-Nuschke-Strasse


A house in Neukoln.

[Vikki]

A few Bundesarchiv photos, all taken in 1946. Unfortunately, I don't remember the source websites since I downloaded them a long time ago.

As they're labelled as being Bundesarchiv photos, and that's the ultimate source, that's fine. Thanks for posting them.

~Vikki

[Helge]

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/cchamorand/ ... constr.htm

[Helge]

http://www.polarworld.de/4images/data/m ... 02_002.jpg

[Svetlana Karlin]

Some interesting Bundesarchiv photos dated 1945-1947. Immediately after the war Tiergarten was converted into vegetable patches to allow starving people to grow their own food. True to their longtime tradition of gardening on city land allotments, Berliners made the most use of it.

Tiergartenvegetablepatch.jpg (209 KiB) Viewed 3706 times

Taking a bath in Tiergarten:

Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-M1015-315,_Berlin,__Bad__im_Tiergarten.jpg (62.04 KiB) Viewed 3706 times

Potato harvest in Tiergarten:

Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-S74994,_Berlin,_Frauen_bei_Kartoffel-Ernte_im_Tiergarten.jpg (72.6 KiB) Viewed 3706 times

All photos are from Wikimedia Commons

[Svetlana Karlin]

Per Vikki's kind request I'm posting this Bundesarchiv photo here. Although it was not taken in Berlin, Wensickendorf is quite close to Berlin. After the war it was in the Soviet occupation zone.

Headdress.jpg (70.72 KiB) Viewed 3595 times

The photo description on http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... sterin.jpg says:

Deutschland 1947 (sowjetische Besatzungszone)
Frau Dohrmann, 1. weiblicher Bürgermeister von Wensickendorf (Kreis Niederbarnim), das elfhundert Einwohner zählt. Sie verwaltet das schwierige und verantwortungsvolle Amt zur Zufriedenheit ihrer Mitbürger.
UBz.: Als "Amtszeichen" trägt die Bürgermeisterin eine weiße Armbinde mit deutscher und russischer Schrift, damit ihr bei ihrer vielseitigen Tägigkeit jegliche Unterstützung zuteil wird.

Translated with help of Google Translator:
Germany 1947 (Soviet zone of occupation)
Mrs. Dohrmann, 1 female mayor of Wensickendorf (District Niederbarnim), which has eleven hundred inhabitants. She manages the difficult and responsible office to the satisfaction of their fellow citizens.
UBZ.: The "official insignia" of the Mayor is a white armband with the German and Russian letters, so it is versatile in daily business.

[Svetlana Karlin]

I've come across a Bundesarchiv collection of photos by Eva Kemlein, who took pictures in the Soviet zone of Berlin. Many of her works show women in various jobs.

Ticket office at S-Bahn.

Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1985-1113-500,_Berlin,_Fahrkartenverkaus_bei_der_S-Bahn.jpg (53.59 KiB) Viewed 3594 times

Professional orientation for school graduates/interns (if I translated the caption correctly)
The original caption in German: 1948 In der Berufsberatung des Arbeitsamtes werden die schulentlassenen Jungen und Mädchen von besonders geeigneten Kräften ihren Neigungen entsprechend in Lehrstellen vermittelt

Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-2005-0731-501,_Berlin,_Arbeitsamt,_Berufsberatung.jpg (48.49 KiB) Viewed 3594 times

Congress of the young activists of the factories in Weissensee. Participants included Erich Honecker, Chairman of the Central Council of the FDJ and Edith Baumann, vice chairman of the Central Council of the FDJ.
The original German caption: Kongreß der Jungaktivisten der Treuhandbetriebe in Weißensee. Zu den Teilnehmern gehörten Erich Honecker, Vorsitzender des Zentralrates der FDJ und Edith Baumann, stellvertretende Vorsitzende des Zentralrates der FDJ

Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-S80854,_Berlin-Weissensee,_Edith_Baumann,_Erich_Honecker.jpg (36.96 KiB) Viewed 3594 times

I will post more Eva Kemlein's photos as time permits.

[JamesL]

Sir Dude - kind of a late response.

The photo appears to have been taken on the Unter den Linden, east of the Brandenburg Tor. There is an island down the middle of the street with trees and grass.

Other photos appear to have been taken on the Ku'dam.

[Svetlana Karlin]

More photos by Eva Kemlein.

Students at the School of Applied Arts working on postal stamps for the Goethe Year.

Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-S83670,_Berlin,_Hochschule_für_Angewandte_Kunst-1.jpg (115.43 KiB) Viewed 3519 times

Peace rally activists at University of Berlin

Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-S84401,_Berlin,_Studenten_bei_einer_Kundgebung.jpg (54.86 KiB) Viewed 3519 times

Cabaret show for workers at a factory in Berlin.

Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-S86457,_Berlin,_Kabarett_vor_der_Belegschaft_einer_Fabrik.jpg (64.35 KiB) Viewed 3519 times

[Svetlana Karlin]

Allotment gardens played a large role in Berlin life both in peacetime and periods of war. Bundesarchiv photos of Berliners in their gardens in 1948:

593px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-S79686_Berlin_Sonntag_im_Kleingarten_1948.jpg (79.88 KiB) Viewed 3318 times

600px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-S79697_Berlin_Apfelernte_im_Kleingarten_1948.jpg (99.11 KiB) Viewed 3318 times

Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1990-0417-501_Berlin_Sonntag_im_Schrebergarten_1948.jpg (60.01 KiB) Viewed 3318 times