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The fair city

Post-war social housing construction

Millions of people had become homeless due to the war and because they had to flee from their homes. In Berlin alone, more than 500,000 housing units were urgently needed. 

Berlin baut auf (Berlin is rebuilding) billboards announced in the Western part of the city from 1949. The so-called Marshall Plan helped to realize a various building projects. The focus was on the functionality of the new buildings. Particularly the Western Allies wanted to demonstrate that they addressed the basic needs of the Berlin population.

With the Nationales Aufbauprogramm Berlin (national reconstruction programme Berlin), mainly large-scale housing construction projects were realized, including the Stalinallee, which is now called Karl-Marx-Allee.

Signs at construction sites

Parts of signs at construction sites from Berlin (West), 1953–1956

Painted press boards

Taken over circa 1987