BERLIN PAST: THE HUNGRY YEARS ARE THERE
Berlin in 1916
1916 was a tough year for Berlin’s residents: the First World War, initially glorified and cheered by many, had already began to take its tall on the “home-front”.
Cities like Berlin were increasingly failing to provide its residents with bare necessities. One of the ways of counteracting the shortages were municipal stores (with fixed and state-controlled prices).
Like this one in Dircksenstraße, opened in one of the Stadtbahn (Berlin’s city railway or S-Bahn) arches belonging to city’s Zentralmarkthalle (municipal Central Market Hall) on the other side of the viaduct. You can still see the store’s front with the characteristic iron columns (by now half-hidden in the brickwork) at the same address.
By the way, that small sign on the left edge of the photo says “Fleisch Untersuchung Station” - the “F” in Fleisch is missing. As by 1916 so was, most likely, the said Fleisch.