These photos are not allowed ...

A shameful prohibition of photos in the "restored" Tränenpalast, the infamous border-crossing at Friedrichstraße Station in Berlin, where the control procedures were everything from intimidating to demeaning and inhuman and "no photos" allowed, was something I would never have thought possible. So before the guard told me "photos forbidden", I had already photographed the old GDR sign "photos forbidden", the row of control cabins, one of which you were closed off in alone to be able to enter or depart the GDR, and the interior of one of them.

The explanation given, upon my complaint up front, was "copyright issues". Now, I'm asking who claims a copyright to GDR signs and control cabins? The personal mementos in showcases elsewhere were of no interest to me anyway, neither to look at nor to photograph; I only wanted to see that horror site without the horror guards who were once there. They have unfortunately been reincarnated under other auspices.

Shame on the organizers!