lines, which also cross Nordend, taking photos of them, starting with the Friedrichsfelde railway station. The track in Hohenschönhausen also passes by the former Stasi prison (today a memorial centre for victims of the Communist dictatorship), something I never noticed back then. In my ignorance I thought it was a normal suburban area. My rail travels took me to Weissensee. I have long been fascinated with this unusual railway line, which stretches from Friedrichsfelde to the airport in Tegel, connecting every suburb in Berlin. In 1984, we stood in the Nordend cemetery, back in the wild area, shooting for the TV film “Verleih uns Frieden” (Grant us peace), an Ernste Musik production for East German television. I was camera assistant the first year; the director let his young daughter dance over the graves overgrown with vegetation. The cemetery imperceptibly turned into garden allotments, and suddenly there was a sign “Industrial Railway” and the rusty tracks on the railway embankment. It was countryside scenery straight out of a dream. Later I shot more photos on the cemetery grounds. How impressed I was and how enthusiastic. Much of this has vanished today. Perhaps I have changed, or perhaps the things in themselves have changed. Perhaps we – the things and I – have lost the power of imagination. The greenhouse on the botanical garden has been renovated with lottery funds. The mayor of Berlin presided over the inauguration of the garden. I read about it in the newspaper and attended the ceremony with my father and