The ruins of Berlin after the war in 1947.

When the German garrison in Berlin capitulated on May 2nd, six days before the end of the Second World War in Europe, large parts of the city were left in ruins.

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After the war ended on the 8th May 1945, much of Berlin is nothing but rubble: 600,000 apartments have been destroyed, and only 2.8 million of the city’s original population of 4.3 million still live in the city.
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One of the largest and most modern cities of Europe was left a wasteland. Piles of rubble everywhere as palaces, museums, churches, monuments, and cultural sites fell victim to the bombs.

German civilians salvaging their possessions in bombed-out Berlin after the surrender of Germany.

The biggest problem that the Berliners had to face was the threat of starvation. German wartime ration cards were no longer valid. Any remaining rations were either used to feed Russian troops or stolen by hungry Germans.

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On May 15th 1945, the Russians introduced a new five tier ration card system: The highest tier was reserved for intellectuals and artists; rubble women and Schwerarbeiter (manual workers) received the second tier card, which was more valuable to them than the 12 Reichsmark they received for cleaning up a thousand bricks; the lowest card, nicknamed the Friedhofskarte (cemetery ticket) was issued to housewives and the elderly. During this period, the average Berliner was around 13 to 20 lb underweight.

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Source: Wikipedia / berlin.de / rarehistoricalphotos.com