EditorialPeople walk along the nearly deserted Alexanderplatz, a public square in Berlin on Wednesday, March, 24, 2021. (Lena Mucha/The New York Times)
EditorialShoppers line up in front of a store at Alexanderplatz in Berlin on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, ahead of Wednesday's lockdown. (Lena Mucha/The New York Times)
EditorialShoppers wait in line in Alexanderplatz, a square in the Mitte district of Berlin, on Black Friday, Nov. 27, 2020. (Lena Mucha/The New York Times)