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“The deserted streets of a giant city - usually vibrant city centers that now look like ghost towns,... gives us an idea of what a non-consumistic world could look like.” (Slavoj Žižek, Pandemic! Covid-19 Shakes The World)
The Berliner Ku'damm is one of the most famous boulevards in the world and used to be a symbol of the „Wirtschaftswunder“ and a „Showcase of the West“. This broad 3,5km long boulevard Ku'damm, or Kurfürstendamm as it is called officially, was always considered to be the Champs-Élysées of Berlin - lined with luxury boutiques, posh car manufacturers' show rooms, hotels and restaurants. After German reunification the heydays and glamour of this exclusive “Flaniermeile” or promenade in the City-West vanished and felt into a “Dornröschenschlaf”, like a Sleeping Beauty. Only in recent years the Ku’damm area and its extension the Joachimsthaler Strasse, including the shopping paradise KaDeWe, experienced a renaissance especially with the creation of the Waldorf Astoria-Hotel and the Bikini-House.
Now, in the troubling times of the Corona-Crisis the Ku'damm is under serious threat. The sidewalks are deserted and most of the shops like Versace, Gucci, Prada or Cartier are curtained off, all restaurants and hotels are closed.