Rudolf Schäfer Berlin, Potsdamer Platz railway Station . black dust

On 14 November 1989, nervous with excitement, I photographed a place that just a few days before had been both inaccessible and dangerous. Between 13 August 1961 and 09 November 1989 no one was able to alight at the railway station Berlin, Potsdamer Platz, or stay there for any other reason. Border area. No man’s land. The exception to this rule were the GDR border troops, and they had orders to open fire. They were seldom to be seen from the underground trains that crossed from West Berlin at an especially fast pace. The platforms were not illuminated, either. My relatives in West Berlin had talked of this place, but I never believed that one day I would be able to visit it, or even photograph it. The only cameras to be seen in the border area were those of the border troops, a kind of documentary weapon. I photographed everything, the soldiers and the underground station, which was coated with a thick layer of black dust. The dust has long been removed and the traces of the soldiers are on my pictures.