September 2016: inline skating marathon, Berlin – ©2016 Honoré Dupuis

The sky was bright, the air clear as crystal… On this September day the inline skating competition preceded the traditional marathon. I took this shot on the Spree’s bank, not far from the Reichstag building. The crowds were out, the capital city was breathing freely. 2016 was the year, the crystal series would end soon.

A crystal day

The sky was bright, the air clear as crystal… On this September day the inline skating competition preceded the traditional marathon. I took this shot on the Spree’s bank, not far from the Reichstag building. The crowds were out, the capital city was breathing freely. 2016 was the year, the crystal series would end soon.

What an event, and what a city! Yet the signs were already there. They wanted to rename streets, erase he city, the land history. How dare you naming streets with the names of colonialists, army officers, fascists! We knew about this, but did not understand the significance. The worms were at work, insidious, relentless. In the new chancellery the hideous spider was at work too. The defence ministry, the gnomes in Brussels, nothing would escape. Soon the forerunners of the Plague would pontificate on TV. 

Robert Koch

On the beautiful avenue, the building was there, evidence from history. It told the story in details, Robert Koch, who could ignore it? Presumably those years were far away in most people’s minds? On that day, September 2016, we were at peace, despite the signs, the ignominious events away in the East… This was next door though, as we now know, much closer than we thought.

Yet the girls on skates were lovely, the river flew, the concreted banks were clean. We walked, hand in hand, breathing the clean air, taking pictures. We did not know it, but the doors were about to close. Soon the Plague would be with us, as planned.