A Soviet Red Army soldier directs traffic at Berlin's Schlossplatz in May 1945, only days after the Battle of Berlin ended. The photograph captures one of the first signs of everyday life returning to the devastated German capital.
From Battlefield to Busy Intersection
This remarkable photograph, taken by Soviet war correspondent Oleg Knorring, shows a Red Army soldier directing traffic at Schlossplatz (Palace Square) in central Berlin during May 1945. In the background stands the monument to Emperor Wilhelm I, a symbol of Imperial Germany that survived the fighting and frames one of the earliest postwar scenes in the conquered capital.
Only days earlier, the streets surrounding this intersection had witnessed some of the fiercest urban combat of the Second World War. Now, instead of directing troops into battle, a Soviet soldier was directing military convoys, supply vehicles, horse-drawn carts, and the first civilian traffic through streets still scarred by weeks of fighting.
The First Days of Peace
Following Germany's surrender, restoring order became an immediate priority. Roads had to be cleared, bridges inspected, supplies distributed, and movement coordinated throughout the shattered city. Traffic control was a small but essential part of that enormous task, helping transform a battlefield back into a functioning capital.
For Berlin's exhausted residents, scenes like this marked one of the first visible signs that daily life—however difficult—was beginning to replace constant shellfire and street fighting. The image reminds us that the end of a war is measured not only by military victories but also by the gradual return of ordinary routines.
A Symbolic Setting
The contrast within the photograph is striking. Behind the traffic controller rises a monument dedicated to Emperor Wilhelm I, one of the founders of the German Empire. In the foreground stands a Soviet soldier regulating traffic in a city whose political and military landscape had been transformed forever. Without a single shot being fired, the image captures one of history's most dramatic shifts in power.
Today, the photograph remains an outstanding visual document of Berlin's transition from a battlefield into an occupied city beginning the long process of recovery.
Technical Photo Data
📷 Technical photo data:
📝 Source: Krasnaya Zvezda, No. 123 (6111), May 27, 1945
📍 Location: Schlossplatz, Berlin, Germany
📅 Date: May 1945
📷 Photographer: Oleg Knorring
Recommended Literature
- Antony Beevor — Berlin: The Downfall 1945
- Cornelius Ryan — The Last Battle
- Ian Kershaw — To Hell and Back: Europe 1914–1949
- Richard Overy — The Bombing War