BERLIN, Germany

From 1961 until 1989 a concrete wall prohibited the residents of Berlin, 
Germany' s largest city and historic capital, from passing unrestricted 
between the city's eastern and western sections. For more than four 
decades Berlin, though well within East Germany (the German Democratic 
Republic), belonged to two different countries. West Berlin, which had 
about two thirds of the people and 54 percent of the land area, 
functioned in most ways as a detached part of West Germany (the Federal 
Republic of Germany). East Berlin served as East Germany's capital city. 
When East and West Germany united on Oct. 3, 1990, a reunited Berlin was 
reinstated as Germany' s capital city, though many government offices 
remained in Bonn, the former capital of West Germany. 

Berlin lies in the historical region of Brandenburg about 50 miles 
(80 kilometers) west of the Polish border and 100 miles (160 kilometers) 
south of the Baltic Sea. The Havel and Spree rivers and a network of canals 
connect the city by water with the Baltic Sea and with most European 
inland ports. A chain of lakes along both rivers, within the city
boundaries, provides Berlin with an extensive waterfront. 

The Berlin of the late 20th century was built on the ruins left by World 
War II. Not only was the city rebuilt, but its very character changed. 
While the Berlin that was destroyed in 1943-45 was a single unified city, 
the one that arose to replace it was divided by hostilities engendered 
by the Cold War. Until 1990 West Berlin, under United States, British, 
and French occupation, was separated from East Berlin, under Soviet
occupation. 

The Berlin Wall was begun in 1961 by East German authorities to prevent 
citizens from crossing to the West. The 103-mile (166-kilometer) wall, 
which encircled West Berlin, was made of concrete, averaged 12 feet 
(4 meters) high, and was painted white to highlight any person who tried 
to escape to the West by climbing over it. On Nov. 9, 1989, East Germany 
ended restrictions on travel and immigration to the West and opened 
passageways through the Berlin Wall and its border with West Germany. As
many as 2,000 East Germans passed each day into West Germany at various 
crossings in the wall. In East Germany the mass exodus of skilled workers 
accelerated a growing labor shortage and threatened to devastate the 
economy overall. In West Germany the result was staggering unemployment 
figures as the country's housing and employment sectors were under great 
strain to accommodate the additional people. 

The center (Mitte) of Berlin is the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin's triumphal 
arch. For almost 30 years it led nowhere, since it stood only a few feet 
from the wall. Thousands of East Berliners passed through the gate when 
it opened on Dec. 22, 1989. In front of the gate stretches the historic 
Unter den Linden, a treelined street almost 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) in 
length. The 18th- and 19th-century buildings that line it, bombed in 
World War II, have largely been restored. They include the Staatsoper 
(State Opera House), the Neue Wache (New Guard House), Humboldt 
University, and a cathedral. 

The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church stands at one end of the 
Kurfurstendamm, a street known to Berliners as Ku'damm for short. Nearby 
is the giant, modern Europa Center, with restaurants, galleries, and 
sports facilities. Cafes and shops line the Kurfurstendamm. Just to the 
north is the Tiergarten, or zoo. Near the northern end of the Tiergarten 
is the Reichstag (parliament) building. Built between 1884 and 1894 and
burned in 1933, it has been restored as a museum. 

Off the Kurfurstendamm, tourists can find the Charlottenburg district, 
which covers 12 square miles (31 square kilometers) of the northwest 
corner of Berlin's center. A monument to old Prussia, the Charlottenburg 
Gate is flanked by statues of Frederick I, the first Prussian king, and 
his wife, Sophie-Charlotte, for whom the district is named. The old 
Charlottenburg Castle is also a popular tourist attraction. 

- Modern apartment buildings and shopping complexes stand side by side 
with restored older buildings throughout Berlin. While Berlin was 
still divided, whole new districts of apartment buildings were created 
in West Berlin in the M?rkisches Viertel in the north, Falkenhagener 
Feld in the west, and Gropiusstadt in the south. The International
Congress Center was opened in 1979 to accommodate large meetings and 
conventions. A residential complex for 100,000 people was constructed in 
the 1980s in Marzahn, a subdivision at the eastern edge of the city. 

A television tower rises just behind the rebuilt 13th-century 
Marienkirche, Berlin's oldest surviving church. Beyond it is the modern 
Alexanderplatz, a shopping and gathering place where East Berlin's annual 
May Day festivities were once held. Near the restored government 
buildings on the Unter den Linden is the Palace of the Republic. 
Completed in 1976, it was the site of many political events while East 
Berlin was under Communist rule. 

More than half of the city's land area is devoted to parks, forests, 
lakes, and the farms that provide much of its food. A forest of pine 
and birch trees, the Grunewald, covers a large area of southwestern 
Berlin. Woodlands provide rural settings for a castle on Peacock 
Island (Pfaueninsel) and the Grunewald Hunting Lodge. 

Life in Berlin
World War II left Berlin with only a fraction of its previous 
population: 2.8 million, compared with 4.3 million before the war. 
Women greatly outnumbered men, and older people made up a large 
proportion of the population. These imbalances of sex and age
gradually diminished, but they continued to affect the life of the 
city for several decades. New migrants into the city included Turks 
and other eastern Mediterranean people, who
helped ease the postwar labor shortage. As a result of this influx, 
about 8 percent of the population of Berlin is non-German, the largest 
percentage of which is Turkish. 

The construction of the Berlin Wall separated many Berliners from 
relatives, and visiting back and forth was difficult through the 
1960s. After 1971 it became easier for West Berliners to pay brief 
visits to the East, but East Berliners were rarely permitted to cross
into the West until the late 1980s. With the opening of the wall in 
November 1989, however, all restrictions on visiting were lifted. 

During the division of the city, the two governments cooperated in 
various practical ways. Sewage from West Berlin was pumped into East 
Germany for treatment, and garbage from West Berlin was dumped outside 
the city walls. West Berlin paid East Germany fees for these services. 

Berliners can travel to other German cities by road, rail, air, or 
water. Berlin's expressway system is part of a national superhighway 
network. Tegel Airport, opened in 1975, can accommodate as many as 5 
million passengers a year. The older, smaller Tempelhof Airport is used 
primarily for military flights. For urban transportation the bus is the 
mainstay, though Berlin also has streetcar service. In addition there is 
an elevated railway and an extensive subway system. The world's first 
electric railway opened here in 1879. 

During the 28 years that the wall restricted passage to the West, 
thousands of East Berliners tried to escape to the West by tunneling 
under the wall or by climbing over it. Nearly 200 persons were killed 
in their attempts to reach freedom. After months of demonstrations 
pressing for reforms in their society, East Berliners staged a
pro-democracy demonstration in November 1989. The wall was opened later 
that month, and in the first week 3 million Easterners crossed to visit 
the West. 

Education and Culture
Berlin has long been a center of learning and the arts. Most of old 
Berlin's great theaters, museums, and other cultural institutions are 
still in operation and are very popular. Operatic productions are 
performed in the restored State Opera House. The Academy of Sciences 
(founded by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz) dates from 1700, the Museum of
German History from 1830, and the Berlin City Museum (with exhibits on 
local history) from 1874. Berlin is also the home of Humboldt 
University (founded in 1810) and a large teaching hospital, the 
Charity. 

West Berlin, cut off for years from many of the city's traditional 
institutions, built new ones. The Free University was established in 
1948. A new opera house opened in 1961, followed by a new Philharmonic 
Hall, Academy of Arts, National Library, and National Gallery. 
Expressionist works of art are displayed at the Brucke Museum, opened 
in 1967. Other museums are in Dahlem (near the Free University) and at 
the restored Charlottenburg Palace. 

The collections of the old national library were divided between East 
and West, with more than 5 million volumes in East Berlin and nearly 2 
million of the original collection (plus newer acquisitions) in West 
Berlin. Technical schools and colleges serve students from all over 
Germany. 

Economy and Government
Reunited Berlin is one of Germany 's industrial centers. Electrical 
engineering, electronics, mechanical engineering, and chemical 
industries predominate. Siemens electrical products, BMW motorcycles, 
and Ford automobiles are assembled in Berlin. Food processing and 
textiles are vital industries. 

Berlin has consisted of 20 boroughs since 1920, when a number of 
separate communities were combined into Greater Berlin. After 1948 
twelve of the boroughs made up West Berlin, and the other eight 
boroughs formed East Berlin. 

Upon reunification in 1990 Berlin became one of the 16 German Lander 
(states) as well as the national capital. (Bonn was to continue for an 
undetermined time as seat of the federal government.) As a state 
Berlin gained voting rights in the Bundestag and Bundesrat, the two 
houses of Germany's parliament. 

West Berlin' s form of government was complicated by its special 
relationship to West Germany. With a mayor, a senate, and a house of 
representatives, its structure paralleled that of the West German 
states. The city was part of West Germany's social and economic system, 
West German courts had jurisdiction there, and West Germany represented 
West Berlin diplomatically in relations with other countries. 

Nevertheless, West Berlin was not officially a part of West Germany. 
West German laws had to be approved by the legislature of West Berlin 
before they could take effect in the city, and not all of West 
Berlin' s representatives in West German political bodies had full 
voting rights. West Berlin residents could register for service in 
the West German armed forces but were exempt from the draft. In early 
1990 a few British, French, United States, and Soviet troops were still 
stationed in the city; however, in negotiations held during September 
1990 those countries pledged to withdraw all of their troops by the 
end of 1994. East Berlin served as the capital of East Germany from 
1949 to 1990 and the seat of most East German governmental institutions. 
The city administration resembled that of West Berlin in structure, with 
a mayor and a city council, a system that continued for the reunited 
city. 

History
Early in the 13th century two villages, Kolln and Berlin, arose on 
opposite banks of the Spree River in Brandenburg. As they grew and 
merged, the name Berlin was applied to both. In 1415 the 
Hohenzollern family gained control of Brandenburg, including Berlin,
and after 1440 the princes of Brandenburg made Berlin their capital 
(see Hohenzollern Dynasty ). 

Berlin suffered great damage in the Thirty Years' War from 1618 to 
1648 (see Thirty Years' War ). To rebuild the population, Frederick 
William invited French and German Protestants and Austrian Jews to 
settle there. In 1701 the ruler of Brandenburg was crowned King 
Frederick I of Prussia. He proclaimed Berlin the capital of the new
Kingdom of Prussia. 

Under Frederick the Great from 1740 to 1786, Prussia became a 
leading power of Europe, and Berlin took its place among great 
European cities. In 1806 Napoleon and his army took possession of the 
city. The French occupation lasted two years. 

Berlin became the capital of the German Empire when William I was 
crowned emperor in 1871. Its population was then about 800,000 and by 
1900 it had increased to almost 2 million. For decades it was Europe 's 
third largest city, after London and Paris. World War I brought an end 
to five centuries of Hohenzollern rule in 1918. Berlin became the
capital of the newly established German Republic. In the 1920s the 
arts flourished and industry grew. 

Berliners did not favor Hitler's rise to power, nor did Hitler 
especially like campaigning in the city. In the last election before 
he created a dictatorship, the Nazis won no more than a third of the 
Berliners' votes. Early in 1933 the Reichstag, the parliament building
in Berlin, was set on fire. Hitler used the Reichstag fire as an 
excuse to seize dictatorial powers and Berlin became the capital of 
the Third Reich. 

British and American bombing during World War II devastated Berlin. 
The Soviets poured artillery fire into the city before capturing it 
in 1945. The Allies divided Berlin, as well as Germany, into four 
occupation zones under an Allied Control Council. In 1948 France, 
Great Britain, and the United States merged their zones into one 
economic unit. The Soviet Union withdrew from the council in
protest and began a blockade of Berlin's rail, highway, and water 
communications with the West. The United States and Britain, however, 
supplied nearly 2 million tons of coal, food, and industrial goods to 
West Berlin by air. The airlift involved more than 200,000 flights 
and lasted more than 11 months, until the Soviets relented. 

An uprising against the Communist regime of Soviet-controlled East 
Berlin, on June 17, 1953, was put down by Soviet tanks. More and more 
people fled from East to West. By the late 1950s West Berlin received as 
many as 20,000 refugees a day.  To halt the flow, the leaders of East 
Berlin sealed the border in August 1961 and built the wall dividing the 
city. An agreement signed in 1971 by the four occupying powers 
guaranteed uninterrupted communications between the city of West 
Berlin and West Germany. 

The years 1989 and 1990 brought revolutionary changes throughout 
Eastern Europe. West Germany 's missions were besieged by refugees
who sought permission to immigrate to the West, and the overcrowded 
mission in East Berlin was forced to close on Aug. 8, 1989. Violent 
pro-reform demonstrations erupted in East Berlin during East Germany's 
40th anniversary celebrations in October. When travel restrictions 
were lifted and the Berlin Wall was breached, negotiations for 
reunification began. Within a year the wall had been almost totally 
dismantled and pieces of it were being sold as souvenirs. 

When Germany was reunited on Oct. 3, 1990, Berlin was designated the 
formal capital of the entire country. As a signal of solidarity, the 
Bundestag at Bonn, which had been the capital of West Germany since 
1949, voted in 1991 to restore most of the federal functions to Berlin. 
(See also Germany .) Population (1989 estimate), 3,277,000. 

Sarah Gibbard Cook