History of Berlin
Encyclopedia
Berlin
is the capital city of Germany
. Berlin is a young city by European standards, founded in the 12th century.
The heraldry of the House of Ascania ruling in Brandenburg, the red eagle and the black bear(s), were part of the constitution of Berlin, depicted in continuous documents ever since. The heraldic bear is documented in many other towns ruled by the House of Ascania and other cities of the Holy Roman Empire at that time, such as Bern.
Berlin's name is recorded in Latin
language documents as "Berolina". The etymology of the name is uncertain, but may be related to the Old Polabian
stem berl-/birl- "swamp".
Not much is left of these ancient communities, although some remainders can be seen in the Nikolaiviertel
, near the Rotes Rathaus
, and the Klosterkirche, close to today's Alexanderplatz
. A great town center fire in 1380 damaged most written records of those early years, as well as the great devastation of the Thirty Years War and further war destruction.
After the quick victory of an alliance of German states over France in the 1870 war, the German Empire
was established in 1871. Bismarck had fought and succeeded in leaving out Austria, Prussia's long standing competitor, and Prussia became the largest and by far most influential state in the new German Empire. Wilhelm I reluctantly agreed to become emperor, Bismarck chancellor, and Berlin was designated the capital.
In the meantime, Berlin had become an industrial
city with 800,000 inhabitants. Improvements to the infrastructure were needed; in 1896 the construction of the subway (U-Bahn
) began and was completed in 1902. The neighborhoods around the city center (including Kreuzberg
, Prenzlauer Berg
, Friedrichshain
and Wedding) were filled with tenement blocks. The surroundings saw extensive development of industrial areas East of Berlin and wealthy residential areas in the South-West.
The overall impression one gets when visiting Berlin today is one of great discontinuity, visibly reflecting the many ruptures of Germany's difficult history
in the 20th century. Although it was the residence of the Prussia
n kings, Berlin's population did not greatly expand until the 19th century, mainly after becoming the capital of the German Empire
in 1871. It remained Germany's capital during the Weimar Republic
and under the Nazis
' Third Reich. 1920s Berlin
was a very exciting and interesting city to live and work during the post-World War I
period.
The economic situation was bad. Germany had to pay large sums of reparation money after the Treaty of Versailles
, and the government reacted by printing so much money that inflation was enormous. Especially workers and pensioners were the victim of this policy. At the worst point of the inflation one dollar was worth about 4.2 trillion marks. From 1924 onwards the situation became better because of newly arranged agreements with the allied forces, American help, and a sounder fiscal policy. The heyday of Berlin began. It became the largest industrial city of the continent. People like the architect Walter Gropius
, physicist Albert Einstein
, painter George Grosz
and writers Arnold Zweig
, Bertolt Brecht
and Kurt Tucholsky
made Berlin one of the major the cultural centers of Europe. Brecht spent his last years in the Weimar-era Berlin (1930–1933) working with his ‘collective’ on the Lehrstücke. Night life was blooming in 1920s Berlin.
In 1922, the railway system, that connected Berlin to its neighboring cities and villages was electrified and transformed into the S-Bahn, and a year later Tempelhof airport
was opened. Berlin was the second biggest inland harbor of the country. All this infrastructure was needed to transport and feed the over 4 million Berliners.
But not all was well. Even before the 1929 crash, 450,000 people were unemployed. In the same year Adolf Hitler
's Nazi Party won its first seats in the city parliament. On July, 1932, the Prussia
n government under Otto Braun
in Berlin was dismissed by presidential decree. The republic was nearing its breakdown, under attack by extreme forces from the right and the left. On January 30, 1933, Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.
became Gauleiter
in 1926. After 1933 the city became the capital of the new Third Reich.
On February 27, 1933 the Reichstag building
was set on fire. The fire gave Hitler the opportunity to set aside the constitution: for details, see "Reichstag fire
".
Around 1933, some 160,000 Jews were living in Berlin: one third of all German Jews, 4% of the Berlin population. A third of them were poor immigrants from Eastern Europe, who lived mainly in the Scheunenviertel near Alexanderplatz
. The Jews were persecuted from the beginning of the Nazi regime. In March, all Jewish doctors had to leave the Charité hospital. In the first week of April, Nazi officials ordered the German population not to buy from Jewish shops.
The 1936 Summer Olympics
were held in Berlin and used as a showcase for Nazi Germany (though the Games had been given to Germany before 1933). In order to not alienate the foreign visitors, the "forbidden for Jews" signs were temporarily removed.
Nazi rule destroyed Berlin's Jewish community, which numbered 160,000 before the Nazis came to power. After the pogrom of Kristallnacht
in 1938, thousands of the city's Jews were imprisoned. Around 1939, there were still 75,000 Jews living in Berlin. The majority of German Jews in Berlin were taken to the Grunewald railway station in early 1943 and shipped in stock car
s to death camps such as Auschwitz
, where most were murdered in the Holocaust. Only some 1200 Jews survived in Berlin by hiding.
Thirty kilometers (30 kilometres (18.6 mi)) northwest of Berlin, near Oranienburg
, was Sachsenhausen concentration camp
, where mainly political opponents and Russian prisoners of war were incarcerated. Tens of thousands died there. Sachsenhausen had subcamps near industries, where the prisoners had to work. Many of these camps were in Berlin.
period Adolf Hitler
and his subordinates had great plans to transform Berlin into a center fit for his new empire. Therefore he and his architect Albert Speer
made plans for the new Berlin, the so-called Welthauptstadt Germania
.
On the site of today's Parliamentary offices (Paul-Löbe-Haus) adjacent to the Reichstag, Speer
planned to construct the Volkshalle
(The People's Hall), 250 m high, seven times higher than St. Peter's Basilica
in Rome, and with an enormous copper dome. It was planned to be large enough to hold 170,000 people. (After the war, Speer admitted that the plan was unviable due to a meteorological problem - namely, that the body heat and perspiration produced so many people inside would generate clouds and even precipitation [rain] inside the dome). From the People's Hall, a southbound avenue was planned, the Avenue of Victory, 23 m wide and 5.6 kilometres (3.5 mi) long. At the other end there would have been the new railway station, and next to it Tempelhof Airport. Halfway down the avenue there would have been a huge arch 117 m high, so large that the Arc de Triomphe
in Paris
would fit inside it. It was projected to be a monument commemorating those fallen during World War I
and World War II
. The project was to finish in 1950, and Berlin was to be re-named "Germania" on that occasion. But the construction never started, as Hitler decided it would be madness to start such a project during a war. Hitler also thought the Allied air strikes very practical, mostly because it made demolishing the old Berlin so much cheaper.
Today only a few structures bear witness to the large-scale plans of Germania. Hermann Göring
's Reichsluftfahrtministerium (National Ministry of Aviation), Tempelhof International Airport
, Olympiastadion, and a series of street lights on the East-West Axis on Kaiserdamm and Straße des 17 Juni are all that remain. Hitler's Reich Chancellery
was demolished by Soviet occupation authorities.
Destruction of buildings and infrastructure was nearly total in parts of the inner city business and residential sectors. The outlying sections suffered relatively little damage. This averages to one fifth of all buildings (50% in the inner city) for overall Berlin.
By the end of the Second World War, up to a third of Berlin had been destroyed by concerted Allied air raids and street fighting. The so-called Stunde Null
marked a new beginning for the city. Greater Berlin was divided into four sectors by the Allies under the London Protocol
of 1944, one each for:
The Soviet victors of the Battle of Berlin
immediately occupied all of Berlin. They handed the American, British and French sectors (later known as West Berlin
) to the American and British Forces in July 1945: the French occupied their sector a little later. The Soviets used the period from May 1945 to July 1945 to dismantle industry, transport and other facilities in West Berlin, including removing railway tracks, as reparations for German war damage in the Soviet Union. This practice also continued in East Berlin
and the Soviet occupation zone after 1945.
Berlin's unique situation as a city half-controlled by Western forces in the middle of the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany made it a natural focal point in the Cold War
. Though the city was initially governed by a Four Power Allied Control Council with a leadership that rotated monthly, the Soviets withdrew from the council as East-West relations deteriorated and began governing their sector independently. The council continued to govern West Berlin, with the same rotating leadership policy, though now only involving France, Great Britain, and the United States.
East Germany chose Berlin (in practice, East Berlin
) as its capital when the country was formed from the Soviet occupation zone in October 1949; however, this was rejected by the western allies, who continued to regard Berlin as an occupied city that was not legally part of any German state. Although half the size and population of West Berlin (which the East German authorities generally referred to as "Westberlin"), it included most of the historic center.
West Germany
, formed on 23 May 1949 from the American, British, and French zones, had its seat of government and de facto
capital in Bonn
, although Berlin was symbolically named as the de jure
West German capital in the West German Basic Law (Grundgesetz).
West Berlin
de jure
remained under the rule of the Western Allies, but for most practical purposes was treated as a part of West Germany
.
In response to Allied efforts to fuse the American, French, and British sectors of western Germany into a federal state, American refusal to grant the Soviets war reparations from industrial areas of western Germany, and to a currency reform undertaken by the western powers without Soviet approval, the Soviets blocked ground access to West Berlin
on 26 June 1948, in what became known as the "Berlin Blockade
", in the hope of gaining control of the whole of Berlin. The Western Allies undertook a massive logistical effort to supply the western sectors of the city through the Berlin Airlift, known by the West Berliners as "die Luftbrücke" (the Air Bridge). The blockade lasted almost a year, ending when the Soviets once again allowed ground access to West Berlin on 11 May 1949.
As part of this project, US Army engineers expanded Tempelhof Airport
. Because sometimes the deliveries contained sweets and candy for the children, the planes were also nicknamed "Raisin bombers
".
in East Berlin went on strike
on 16 June 1953, to demand a reduction in recent work-quota increases. They called for a general strike
the next day, 17 June. The general strike and protest marches turned into rioting and spread throughout East Germany. The East German police failed to quell the unrest. It had to be suppressed by Soviet troops, who encountered stiff resistance from angry crowds across East Germany, and responded with live ammunition. At least 153 people were killed in the suppression of the uprising.
The continuation of the street "Unter den Linden
" on the western side of the Brandenburg Gate
was renamed Straße des 17. Juni
in honor of the uprising, and 17 June was proclaimed a national holiday in West Germany.
On August 13, 1961 the communist East German government started to build a wall, physically separating West Berlin
from East Berlin
and the rest of East Germany, as a response to massive numbers of East German citizens fleeing into West Berlin as a way to escape to the west. The East German government called the Wall the "anti-fascist protection wall". The tensions between east and west were exacerbated by a tank standoff at Checkpoint Charlie
on 27 October 1961. West Berlin was now de facto a part of West Germany, but with a unique legal status, while East Berlin was de facto a part of East Germany.
The eastern and western sectors of Berlin were now completely separated. It was possible for Westerners to pass from one to the other only through strictly controlled checkpoints. For most Easterners, travel to West Berlin or West Germany was no longer possible. During the Wall's existence there were around 5,000 successful escapes into West Berlin; 136 people were officially killed trying to cross (see Deaths at the Berlin Wall) and around 200 were seriously injured. The sandy soil under the Wall was both a blessing and a curse for those who attempted to tunnel their way to West Berlin and freedom. Although it was fast and easy to dig through, it was also more prone to collapse.
When the first stone blocks were laid down at the Potsdamer Platz
in the early hours of August 13, US troops stood ready with ammunition issued and watched the wall being built, stone by stone. The US Military with West Berlin police kept Berliners 300 meters away from the border. President Kennedy and the United States Congress
decided not to interfere and risk armed conflict, but instead sent protest notes to Moscow
. Massive demonstrations took place in West Berlin for a long time.
John F. Kennedy
gave a speech about the Berlin Wall
in which he said, "Ich bin ein Berliner
" – "I am a Berliner" – which meant much to a city that was a Western island in Soviet satellite
territory.
Much Cold War
espionage
and counter-espionage took place in Berlin, against a backdrop of potential superpower confrontation in which both sides had nuclear weapons set for a range that could hit Germany. In 1971, the Four-Power Agreement on Berlin
was signed. While the Soviet Union applied the oversight of the four powers only to West Berlin, the Western Allies emphasized in a 1975 note to the United Nations
their position that four-power oversight applied to Berlin as a whole. The agreement guaranteed access across East Germany to West Berlin and ended the potential for harassment or closure of the routes.
As many businesses did not want to operate in West Berlin
due to its physical and economic isolation from the outside, the West German government subsidized any businesses that did operate in West Berlin.
In the 1960s, West Berlin became one of the centers of the German student movement
. West Berlin was especially popular with young German left-wing radicals, as young men living in West Berlin were exempted from the obligatory military service required in West Germany proper: the Kreuzberg
district became especially well-known for its high concentration of young radicals.
The Wall afforded unique opportunities for social gatherings. The physical wall was set some distance behind the actual sector border, up to several meters behind in some places. The West Berlin police were not legally allowed to enter the space between the border and the wall, as it was technically in East Berlin and outside their jurisdiction: many people took the opportunity to throw loud parties in this space, with the West Berlin authorities powerless to intervene.
In 1968 and the following years, West Berlin became one of the centers of the student revolt; in particular, the Kreuzberg borough was the center of many riots.
in October 1989, guest of honor Mikhail Gorbachev
gave a speech indicating that he would not support hard-line positions by the East German regime, millions of whose citizens were trying to flee to West Germany across the weakening Iron Curtain
in Hungary
and Czechoslovakia
.
On 9 November 1989, after a misleading press statement by Politburo member Günter Schabowski
, border guards gave in and allowed crowds from East Berlin across the frontier at the Bösebrücke. The guards believed that the authorities had decided to open the wall, but in reality no firm decision was taken and events gathered steam on their own. The East German leadership was in disarray following the resignation of party chieftain Erich Honecker
in October.
People of East and West Berlin climbed up and danced on the wall at the Brandenburg Gate
in scenes of wild celebration broadcast worldwide. This time no Soviet tanks rolled through Berlin. The wall never closed again, and was soon on its way to demolition, with countless Berliners and tourists wielding hammers and chisels to secure souvenir chunks.
On Christmas Day December 25, 1989, the American conductor Leonard Bernstein
shared with East and West Berliners and the world his Berlin Celebration Concert in order to celebrate the Fall of the Berlin Wall
. "Ode to Joy
", which Bernstein had reworded "Ode to Freedom", was performed.
A performance of Pink Floyd
's The Wall
took place in Potsdamer Platz
in 1990, led by former Pink Floyd member, Roger Waters
.
After the breakdown of Communism
in Europe
, on 3 October 1990 Germany and Berlin were both reunited
. By then the Wall had been almost completely demolished, with only small sections remaining.
In June 1991 the German Parliament, the Bundestag
, voted to move the (West) German capital back from Bonn
to Berlin. Berlin once more became the capital of a unified Germany.
In 1999 federal ministries and government offices moved back from Bonn to Berlin, but most employees in the ministries still work in Bonn. Also in 1999, about 20 government authorities moved from Bonn to Berlin, as planned in the compensation agreement of 1994, the Berlin/Bonn Act
.
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
is the capital city of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Berlin is a young city by European standards, founded in the 12th century.
Early history
- 98 AD: TacitusTacitusPublius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
described the territory of GermaniaGermaniaGermania was the Greek and Roman geographical term for the geographical regions inhabited by mainly by peoples considered to be Germani. It was most often used to refer especially to the east of the Rhine and north of the Danube...
. What is now Berlin, in ancient times was well outside the frontiers of the Roman EmpireRoman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. Germanic tribes then inhabited the region (some experts argue that Slavic peoplesSlavic peoplesThe Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
might have been settling there since before the era: see Przeworsk culturePrzeworsk cultureThe Przeworsk culture is part of an Iron Age archaeological complex that dates from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD. It was located in what is now central and southern Poland, later spreading to parts of eastern Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia ranging between the Oder and the middle and...
). During the post-Roman Migration PeriodMigration PeriodThe Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...
, they departed for other lands, probably to become part of the new ruling class in the invaded areas of the Western Roman EmpireWestern Roman EmpireThe Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
. It is not known if there was a permanent settlement at the time in what is today known as Berlin. - 6th century onwards: A certain cultural cluster (i.e. Prague-Korczak culture) of Slavic tribes from the east start moving into the sparsely populated area between the ElbeElbeThe Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
and OderOderThe Oder is a river in Central Europe. It rises in the Czech Republic and flows through western Poland, later forming of the border between Poland and Germany, part of the Oder-Neisse line...
rivers. - About 720: Two Slavic tribes settled in the Berlin region. The Hevelli settled on the river HavelHavelThe Havel is a river in north-eastern Germany, flowing through the German states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. It is a right tributary of the Elbe river and in length...
with their central settlement in Brandenburg, which gave the name for the whole territory. The Sprevane settled close to the river SpreeSpreeThe Spree is a river that flows through the Saxony, Brandenburg and Berlin states of Germany, and in the Ústí nad Labem region of the Czech Republic...
in today's district of Berlin-KöpenickKöpenickKöpenick is a historic town and locality that is situated at the confluence of the rivers Dahme and Spree in the south-east of the German capital city of Berlin. It was formerly known as Copanic and then Cöpenick, only officially adopting the current spelling in 1931...
. - About 750: The Hevelli founded Spandow (today's SpandauSpandauSpandau is the fifth of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is the fourth largest and westernmost borough, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and along the western bank of the Havel, but the least populated.-Overview:...
) on the river Havel. This seems to be the closest settlement to the area which is today known as Berlin. - About 825: Spandau and Köpenick were protected with barriers. They were the major settlements and later towns in the area until the early 11th century.
- Early 9th century: Slavic tribes settle in vicinity of later city Berlin.
- 948: Emperor Otto I the GreatOtto I, Holy Roman EmperorOtto I the Great , son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim, was Duke of Saxony, King of Germany, King of Italy, and "the first of the Germans to be called the emperor of Italy" according to Arnulf of Milan...
established German control over the now largely Slavic inhabitants of the area and founded the dioceseDioceseA diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
s of HavelbergBishopric of HavelbergThe Bishopric of Havelberg was a Roman Catholic diocese founded by King Otto I, King of the Germans, in 946. The diocese was suffragan to the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. Its most famous bishop was Anselm of Havelberg. Its seat was in Havelberg in the Northern March and it roughly covered the...
and Brandenburg. - about 950: Margrave GeroGeroGero I , called the Great , ruled an initially modest march centred on Merseburg, which he expanded into a vast territory named after him: the marca Geronis. During the mid-10th century, he was the leader of the Saxon Drang nach Osten.-Succession and early conflicts:Gero was the son of Count...
led several campaigns against Slavs settled in the area; the vast territory governed by GeroMarca GeronisThe Marca Geronis was a vast super-march in the middle of the tenth century. It was created probably for Thietmar and passed to his two sons consecutively: Siegfried and Gero...
was split after his death in 965 into several marches, Northmarch, Saxon March, Lusatia and more. - 972: Mieszko I defeated Margrave Hodo at OderbergOderbergOderberg is a town in the district of Barnim, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 16 km east of Eberswalde, and 27 km southwest of Schwedt and in close vicinity of Berlin.-Overview:...
and CedyniaCedyniaCedynia is a town in Poland, in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in Gryfino County. It lies close to the Oder River, near the border with Germany, and is the westernmost town in Poland...
at the Oder river in the Battle of CedyniaBattle of CedyniaIn the Battle of Cedynia or Zehden, an army of Mieszko I of Poland defeated forces of Hodo or Odo I of Lusatia on 24 June 972, near the Oder river...
. Later his son Boleslaw I temporarily conquered land "along the sea" (Longum Mare), which in a 1046 imperial document is called PomeraniaPomeraniaPomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...
. - 983: Emperor Otto IIOtto II, Holy Roman EmperorOtto II , called the Red, was the third ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty, the son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy.-Early years and co-ruler with Otto I:...
died. - 983: In a great uprising the heathen Slavs wiped out German control from the territory of present day BrandenburgBrandenburgBrandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
. The monasteriesMonasteryMonastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
were burned, priestPriestA priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
s and German officials killed or expelled. The Slavic tribes living east of ElbeElbeThe Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
remained paganPaganismPaganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
for the next 150 years. - 12th century: German kings and emperors re-established control over the now largely Slavic-inhabited lands. The Slavic inhabitants of the area were either driven out, or became subject to German feudal lords. Many Slavic inhabitants survived the conquests and live there still today, such as the SorbsSorbsSorbs are a Western Slavic people of Central Europe living predominantly in Lusatia, a region on the territory of Germany and Poland. In Germany they live in the states of Brandenburg and Saxony. They speak the Sorbian languages - closely related to Polish and Czech - officially recognized and...
and LusatiansLusatiansLusatians are people living in or coming from Lusatia. It may refer to:*Sorbs, Slavic people *Germans, main ethnic group of Lusatia...
. The church brought bishoprics, which with their walled towns, afforded protection for the townspeople from attack. With the monks and bishops, the history of the town of Brandenburg, which in time became the state of Brandenburg, began. - 1134: After the Wendish CrusadeWendish CrusadeThe Wendish Crusade was an 1147 campaign, one of the Northern Crusades and also a part of the Second Crusade, led primarily by the Kingdom of Germany inside the Holy Roman Empire and directed against the Polabian Slavs ....
, the German magnate Albert the Bear was granted the Northern MarchNorthern MarchThe Northern March or North March was created out of the division of the vast Marca Geronis in 965. It initially comprised the northern third of the Marca and was part of the territorial organisation of areas conquered from the Wends...
by the Holy Roman EmperorHoly Roman EmperorThe Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
Lothar II. For some time up until the 15th century, some part of the area that would become Brandenburg was inhabited by the Slavic WendsWendsWends is a historic name for West Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It does not refer to a homogeneous people, but to various peoples, tribes or groups depending on where and when it is used...
, whose descendants still make up a part of the area's modern population. Albert's control of the region was nominal for several decades, but he engaged in a variety of campaigns against the Wends, as well as more diplomatic efforts which saw his control become more real by the middle of the 12th century. - 1150: Albert the Bear formally inherited parts of Brandenburg from its last Wendish prince, Pribislav. His descendants, the Ascanians, then made considerable progress in ChristianizingChristianizationThe historical phenomenon of Christianization is the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once...
and cultivating the lands. There was never any distinction made by any of the German rulers, and the Slavic and German tribes intermarried.
- For the history of the Brandenburg area from here on, see Brandenburg#History.
13th–14th century
Throughout these events, the area of today's Berlin contained small fishing and farming villages.- After 1200: Under the grandsons of Albert the Bear, Otto and Johann, two towns, CöllnCöllnIn the 13th century Cölln was the sister town of Old Berlin , located on the southern Spree Island in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Today the island is located in the historic core of the central Mitte locality of modern Berlin...
in 1237 and BerlinAlt-BerlinAlt-Berlin , also named Altberlin, is a neighbourhood , situated in the Berliner locality of Mitte, part of the homonymous borough. In the 13th century it was the sister town of the old Cölln, located on the northern Spree Island in the Margraviate of Brandenburg...
in 1244, were founded on the banks of the river SpreeSpreeThe Spree is a river that flows through the Saxony, Brandenburg and Berlin states of Germany, and in the Ústí nad Labem region of the Czech Republic...
. The name of Cölln may have been chosen, due to involvement of the Archbishopric of CologneArchbishopric of CologneThe Electorate of Cologne was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire and existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. It consisted of the temporal possessions of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne . It was ruled by the Archbishop in his function as prince-elector of...
bringing in settlers from the Rhine river area (as far north as FrieslandFrieslandFriesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...
) to build up the marshy territory along the Spree river. Later Berlin and Cölln were united into one city; one of Berlin's modern-day boroughs is NeuköllnNeuköllnNeukölln is the eighth borough of Berlin, located in the southeastern part of the city and was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city...
, named after Cölln.
The heraldry of the House of Ascania ruling in Brandenburg, the red eagle and the black bear(s), were part of the constitution of Berlin, depicted in continuous documents ever since. The heraldic bear is documented in many other towns ruled by the House of Ascania and other cities of the Holy Roman Empire at that time, such as Bern.
- 28 October 1237: Cölln is first mentioned in documents.
- 1244:Berlin is first mentioned in documents.
- 1251: First mention of city rightsGerman town lawGerman town law or German municipal concerns concerns town privileges used by many cities, towns, and villages throughout Central and Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages.- Town law in Germany :...
for Berlin. - 1253: First known Berlin seal document with Brandenburg red eagleCoat of arms of BrandenburgThis article is about the coat of arms of the German state of Brandenburg.- History :According to tradition, the Märkischer Adler , or red eagle of the March of Brandenburg, was adopted by Margrave Gero in the 10th century. Gustav A. Seyler states that the Ascanian Albert the Bear was the originator...
. - 1261: First mention of city rights for Cölln.
- 1280: First surviving Berlin seal document depicting 2 upright bears with Brandenburg eagle in center
- Documents are exhibited in the cathedral museum in the town of Brandenburg an der Havel.
Berlin's name is recorded in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
language documents as "Berolina". The etymology of the name is uncertain, but may be related to the Old Polabian
Polabian language
The Polabian language is an extinct West Slavic language that was spoken by the Polabian Slavs in present-day North-Eastern Germany around the Elbe river, from which derives its name...
stem berl-/birl- "swamp".
- 1307: Twin cities Berlin and Cölln formed a trading union on political and security matters, and participated in the Hanse. Their urban development took place in parallel for 400 years.
- Around 1400: Berlin and Cölln had 8,000 inhabitants.
Not much is left of these ancient communities, although some remainders can be seen in the Nikolaiviertel
Nikolaiviertel
Founded about 1200, the Nikolaiviertel of Alt-Berlin, together with the neighbouring settlement of Cölln, is the reconstructed historical heart of the German capital Berlin...
, near the Rotes Rathaus
Rotes Rathaus
The Red City Hall is the town hall of Berlin, located in the Mitte district on Rathausstraße near Alexanderplatz. It is the home to the governing mayor and the government of the Federal state of Berlin...
, and the Klosterkirche, close to today's Alexanderplatz
Alexanderplatz
Alexanderplatz is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin, near the Fernsehturm. Berliners often call it simply Alex, referring to a larger neighborhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the City Hall in the southwest.-Early...
. A great town center fire in 1380 damaged most written records of those early years, as well as the great devastation of the Thirty Years War and further war destruction.
15th–17th century
- 1415: Frederick I became the electorPrince-electorThe Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
of the Margraviate of BrandenburgMargraviate of BrandenburgThe Margraviate of Brandenburg was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806. Also known as the March of Brandenburg , it played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe....
, which he ruled until 1440. Subsequent members of the Hohenzollern familyHouse of HohenzollernThe House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near...
ruled until 1918 in Berlin, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of PrussiaKingdom of PrussiaThe Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
, and finally as German emperors. When Berlin became the residence of the Hohenzollerns, it had to give up its Hanseatic LeagueHanseatic LeagueThe Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
free city status. Its main economical activity changed from trade to the production of luxurious goods for the court. - 1443 to 1451: The first Berliner StadtschlossBerliner StadtschlossThe Stadtschloss , was a royal palace in the centre of Berlin, capital of Germany. The palace bore features of the Baroque style, and its shape, finalized by the mid 18th century, is attributed to Andreas Schlüter, whose first design is likely to date from 1702, though the palace incorporated...
was built on the embankment of the river Spree.- At that time Berlin-Cölln had about 8,000 inhabitants. Population figures rose fast, leading to poverty.
- 1448: The inhabitants of Berlin rebelled in the "Berlin Indignation" against the construction of a new royal palace by Elector Frederick II IrontoothFrederick II, Elector of BrandenburgFrederick II of Brandenburg , nicknamed "the Iron" and sometimes "Irontooth" , was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from 1440 until his abdication in 1470, and was a member of the House of Hohenzollern.-Biography:Frederick II was born in Tangermünde to Frederick I, Brandenburg's...
. This protest was not successful, however, and the citizenry lost many of its political and economic privileges. - 1451: Berlin became the royal residence of the Brandenburg electors, and Berlin had to give up its status as a free HanseaticHanseatic LeagueThe Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
city. - In 1510 100 Jews were accused of stealing and desecrating hosts. 38 of them were burned to death; others were banished, losing their possessions, only to be returned by later margraveMargraveA margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...
s. - 1539: The electors and Berlin officially became LutheranLutheranismLutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
. - 1540: Joachim II introduced the Protestant ReformationProtestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
in Brandenburg and secularized church possessions. He used the money to pay for his projects, like building an avenue, the KurfürstendammKurfürstendammThe Kurfürstendamm, known locally as the Ku'damm, is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former Kurfürsten of Brandenburg. This very broad, long boulevard can be considered the Champs-Élysées of Berlin — full of shops, houses, hotels and restaurants...
, between his hunting castle Grunewald and his palace, the Berliner StadtschlossBerliner StadtschlossThe Stadtschloss , was a royal palace in the centre of Berlin, capital of Germany. The palace bore features of the Baroque style, and its shape, finalized by the mid 18th century, is attributed to Andreas Schlüter, whose first design is likely to date from 1702, though the palace incorporated...
. - 1576, Bubonic plagueBubonic plaguePlague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
killed about 4,000 people in the city. - Around 1600: Berlin-Cölln had 12,000 inhabitants.
- 1618 to 1648: The Thirty Years' WarThirty Years' WarThe Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
had devastating consequences for Berlin. A third of the houses were damaged, and the city lost half of its population. - 1640: Frederick WilliamFrederick William, Elector of Brandenburg|align=right|Frederick William was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia – and thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia – from 1640 until his death. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as the "Great Elector" because of his military and political prowess...
, known as the “Great Elector”, succeeded his father George WilliamGeorge William, Elector of BrandenburgGeorge William of Brandenburg , of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was margrave and elector of Brandenburg and duke of Prussia from 1619 until his death. His reign was marked by ineffective governance during the Thirty Years' War...
as Elector of Brandenburg. Later he initiated a policy of promoting immigrationImmigrationImmigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
and religious tolerationReligious tolerationToleration is "the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, ie of allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow”. It has also been defined as "to bear or endure" or "to nourish, sustain or preserve"...
. Over the following decades, Berlin expanded greatly in area and population with the founding of the new suburbs of Friedrichswerder and Dorotheenstadt. During his government Berlin reached 20,000 inhabitants and became significant among the cities in Central EuropeCentral EuropeCentral Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
for the first time. He also developed a standing armyPrussian ArmyThe Royal Prussian Army was the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power.The Prussian Army had its roots in the meager mercenary forces of Brandenburg during the Thirty Years' War... - 1647: The boulevard Unter den LindenUnter den LindenUnter den Linden is a boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is named for its linden trees that line the grassed pedestrian mall between two carriageways....
with six rows of trees was laid down between the TiergartenTiergartenTiergarten is a locality within the borough of Mitte, in central Berlin . Notable for the great and homonymous urban park, before German reunification, it was a part of West Berlin...
park and the Palace. - 1671: Fifty Jewish families from AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
were given a home in Berlin. With the Edict of PotsdamEdict of PotsdamThe Edict of Potsdam was a proclamation issued by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, in Potsdam on October 29, 1685, as a response to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by the Edict of Fontainebleau.- Background :...
in 1685, Frederick William invited the French CalvinistCalvinismCalvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
HuguenotHuguenotThe Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
s to Brandenburg. More than 15,000 Huguenots came, of whom 6,000 settled in Berlin. - 1674 and after: The Dorotheenstadt was built in a bow of the river Spree, north-west of the Spreeinsel (Spree Island), where the Palace was situated.
- 1688 and after: The FriedrichstadtFriedrichstadt (Berlin)Friedrichstadt was an independent suburb of Berlin, and is now a historical neighborhood of the city itself. The neighborhood is named after the Prussian king Frederick I.-Geography:...
was built and settled. - Around 1700: 20% of the inhabitants of Berlin were French immigrants and their cultural influence was important. Many people from BohemiaBohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
, PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and SalzburgArchbishopric of SalzburgThe Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire, its territory roughly congruent with the present-day Austrian state of Salzburg....
also took refuge.
Kingdom of Prussia
- 1701: Elector Frederick III (1688–1701) crowned himself as Frederick IFrederick I of PrussiaFrederick I , of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia in personal union . The latter function he upgraded to royalty, becoming the first King in Prussia . From 1707 he was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
(1701–1713), King in PrussiaKing in PrussiaKing in Prussia was a title used by the Electors of Brandenburg from 1701 to 1772. Subsequently they used the title King of Prussia....
. He was mostly interested in decorumDecorumDecorum was a principle of classical rhetoric, poetry and theatrical theory that was about the fitness or otherwise of a style to a theatrical subject...
: he ordered the building of the castle CharlottenburgCharlottenburgCharlottenburg is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, named after Queen consort Sophia Charlotte...
in the west of the city. He made Berlin the capital of the new kingdom of Prussia. On 1 January 1710, the cities of Berlin, Cölln, Friedrichswerder, Dorotheenstadt, and Friedrichstadt were united as the “Royal Capital and Residence of Berlin”. - 1709: Berlin counted 55,000 inhabitants, of whom 5,000 served in the Prussian ArmyPrussian ArmyThe Royal Prussian Army was the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power.The Prussian Army had its roots in the meager mercenary forces of Brandenburg during the Thirty Years' War...
. Cölln and Berlin were finally unified under the name of Berlin, including the suburbs of Friedrichswerder, Dorotheenstadt, and Friedrichstadt, with 60,000 inhabitants. Berlin and Cölln are on both sides of the river SpreeSpreeThe Spree is a river that flows through the Saxony, Brandenburg and Berlin states of Germany, and in the Ústí nad Labem region of the Czech Republic...
, in today's MitteMitteMitte is the first and most central borough of Berlin. It was created in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by the merger of the former districts of Mitte proper, Tiergarten and Wedding; the resulting borough retained the name Mitte. It is one of the two boroughs which comprises former West and...
borough. - 1713: Frederick I was succeed by his son, Frederick William IFrederick William I of PrussiaFrederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death...
(1713–1740). He, in contrast, was a sparing man, who made Prussia an important military power. Furthermore, Frederick William built a wooden wall around the city with 14 gates, known as Zoll- und AkzisemauerBerlin Customs WallThe Berlin Customs Wall was a ring wall around the historic city of Berlin; the wall itself had no defence function but was used to facilitate the levying of taxes on the import and export of goods which was the primary income of many cities at the time.- History :The wall was erected...
.
- 1740: Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great (1740–1786), came to power. Berlin became, under the rule of the enlightened monarch, a center of EnlightenmentAge of EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
thinkers like Moses MendelssohnMoses MendelssohnMoses Mendelssohn was a German Jewish philosopher to whose ideas the renaissance of European Jews, Haskalah is indebted...
. - 1755: Berlin had 100,000 inhabitants, of whom 26,000 served in the army.
- 1760: Berlin was briefly occupied by the Russian Army in the Raid on BerlinRaid on BerlinThe Raid on Berlin took place in October 1760 during the Seven Years' War when Austrian and Russian forces occupied the Prussian capital of Berlin for several days. After raising money from the city, and with the approach of further Prussian reinforcements, the occupiers withdrew...
during the Seven Years' WarSeven Years' WarThe Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
. - 1786: Stagnation followed under the rule of Frederick William IIFrederick William II of PrussiaFrederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...
. He was an adversary of the Enlightenment and practiced censorship and repression. However, he rebuilt Frederick William I's city wall in stone, commissioning an improved Brandenburg GateBrandenburg GateThe Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city centre at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which...
(Brandenburger Tor) at the end of the 18th century - this gate is now widely recognized as a symbol of Berlin.
- 1806: French troops marched into Berlin. Berlin was granted self-government and a far reaching military reform was started.
- 1809: The first elections for the Berlin parliament took place, in which only the well-to-do could vote.
- 1810: The Berlin University (now the Humboldt UniversityHumboldt University of BerlinThe Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
) was founded. Its first rector was the philosopher Johann Gottlieb FichteJohann Gottlieb FichteJohann Gottlieb Fichte was a German philosopher. He was one of the founding figures of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, a movement that developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kant...
. - 1812: Jews were allowed to practice all occupations.
- 1814: The French were defeated in the Sixth Coalition. Economically the city was in good shape. The population grew from 200,000 to 400,000 in the first half of the 19th century, making Berlin the fourth-largest city in Europe.
- 1815: Battle of WaterlooBattle of WaterlooThe Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
with Prussian troops from Potsdam and Berlin participating. Berlin becomes part of the Province of BrandenburgProvince of BrandenburgThe Province of Brandenburg was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:The first people who are known to have inhabited Brandenburg were the Suevi. They were succeeded by the Slavonians, whom Henry II conquered and converted to Christianity in...
. - 1827: Berlin is the capital of the Province of Brandenburg from 1827-1843.
- 1848: As in other European cities, 1848 was a revolutionary yearRevolutions of 1848 in the German statesThe Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, also called the March Revolution – part of the Revolutions of 1848 that broke out in many countries of Europe – were a series of loosely coordinated protests and rebellions in the states of the German Confederation, including the Austrian Empire...
in Berlin. Frederick William IVFrederick William IV of Prussia|align=right|Upon his accession, he toned down the reactionary policies enacted by his father, easing press censorship and promising to enact a constitution at some point, but he refused to enact a popular legislative assembly, preferring to work with the aristocracy through "united committees" of...
(1840–1861) managed to suppress the revolution. One of his reactions was to raise the income condition to partake in the elections, with the result that only 5% of the citizens could vote. This system would stay in place until 1918. - 1861: Wilhelm I (1861–1888) became the new king. In the beginning of his reign there was hope for liberalization. He appointed liberal ministers and built the city hall, Das Rote RathausRotes RathausThe Red City Hall is the town hall of Berlin, located in the Mitte district on Rathausstraße near Alexanderplatz. It is the home to the governing mayor and the government of the Federal state of Berlin...
. The appointment of Otto von BismarckOtto von BismarckOtto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
ended these hopes. - 19th century: The Industrial RevolutionIndustrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
transformed Berlin; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main rail hub and economic center of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1861, outlying suburbs including WeddingWedding (Berlin)Wedding is a locality in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany and was a separate borough in the north-western inner city until it was fused with Tiergarten and Mitte in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform...
, MoabitMoabitMoabit is an inner city locality of Berlin. Since Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it belongs to the newly regrouped governmental borough of Mitte. Previously, from 1920 to 2001, it belonged to the borough of Tiergarten. Moabit's borders are defined by three watercourses, the Spree, the...
, and several others were incorporated into Berlin. - 1870: France defeated by Prussia and alliance of German states in the Franco-Prussian WarFranco-Prussian WarThe Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
. - 1871: Berlin became capital of the newly-founded German EmpireGerman EmpireThe German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
after the unification of GermanyUnification of GermanyThe formal unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred on 18 January 1871 at the Versailles Palace's Hall of Mirrors in France. Princes of the German states gathered there to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as Emperor Wilhelm of the German...
.
German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
was established in 1871. Bismarck had fought and succeeded in leaving out Austria, Prussia's long standing competitor, and Prussia became the largest and by far most influential state in the new German Empire. Wilhelm I reluctantly agreed to become emperor, Bismarck chancellor, and Berlin was designated the capital.
In the meantime, Berlin had become an industrial
Industrialisation
Industrialization is the process of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one...
city with 800,000 inhabitants. Improvements to the infrastructure were needed; in 1896 the construction of the subway (U-Bahn
Berlin U-Bahn
The Berlin is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, and is a major part of the public transport system of that city. Opened in 1902, the serves 173 stations spread across ten lines, with a total track length of , about 80% of which is underground...
) began and was completed in 1902. The neighborhoods around the city center (including Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg, a part of the combined Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte since 2001, is one of the best-known areas of Berlin...
, Prenzlauer Berg
Prenzlauer Berg
Prenzlauer Berg is a locality of Berlin, in the borough of Pankow.Until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a borough of Berlin; in that year it was included in the borough of Pankow....
, Friedrichshain
Friedrichshain
Friedrichshain is a part of Berlin's borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, and like Kreuzberg across the river it has its own distinct character, with the result that the new double name is hardly ever used outside government administration. From its creation in 1920 until Berlin's 2001...
and Wedding) were filled with tenement blocks. The surroundings saw extensive development of industrial areas East of Berlin and wealthy residential areas in the South-West.
- 1875-1889: The economic boom caused by the new role of Berlin was followed by a crisis in the second half of the 1870s.
- 1881: Berlin became a city district (Stadtkreis Berlin) separate from the Province of Brandenburg.
- 1884: Construction of the parliament building, the ReichstagReichstag (building)The Reichstag building is a historical edifice in Berlin, Germany, constructed to house the Reichstag, parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Reichstag until 1933, when it was severely damaged in a fire. During the Nazi era, the few meetings of members of the...
, was commenced. - 1914-1918: World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
led to hunger in Berlin. In the winter of 1916/1917 150,000 people were dependent on food aid, and strikes broke out. - 1918: When the war ended, Wilhelm II (1888–1918) abdicated. The socialistSocialismSocialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
Philipp ScheidemannPhilipp ScheidemannPhilipp Scheidemann was a German Social Democratic politician, who proclaimed the Republic on 9 November 1918, and who became the second Chancellor of the Weimar Republic....
at the ReichstagReichstag (building)The Reichstag building is a historical edifice in Berlin, Germany, constructed to house the Reichstag, parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Reichstag until 1933, when it was severely damaged in a fire. During the Nazi era, the few meetings of members of the...
and the communistCommunismCommunism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
Karl LiebknechtKarl Liebknechtwas a German socialist and a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany. He is best known for his opposition to World War I in the Reichstag and his role in the Spartacist uprising of 1919...
at the Castle both proclaimed a republicRepublicA republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
. In the next months Berlin became a battleground between the two political systems.
Weimar Republic
- 1918: At the end of World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the Weimar RepublicWeimar RepublicThe Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
was proclaimed in Berlin. In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act united dozens of suburban cities, villages, and estates around Berlin into a greatly expanded city. After this expansion, Berlin had a population of around 4 million.
The overall impression one gets when visiting Berlin today is one of great discontinuity, visibly reflecting the many ruptures of Germany's difficult history
History of Germany
The concept of Germany as a distinct region in central Europe can be traced to Roman commander Julius Caesar, who referred to the unconquered area east of the Rhine as Germania, thus distinguishing it from Gaul , which he had conquered. The victory of the Germanic tribes in the Battle of the...
in the 20th century. Although it was the residence of the Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n kings, Berlin's population did not greatly expand until the 19th century, mainly after becoming the capital of the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
in 1871. It remained Germany's capital during the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
and under the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
' Third Reich. 1920s Berlin
1920s Berlin
The Golden Twenties in Berlin was a vibrant period in the history of Berlin, German history, and European history in general.-Weimar culture:...
was a very exciting and interesting city to live and work during the post-World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
period.
- Late December 1918: The Communist Party of GermanyCommunist Party of GermanyThe Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
(Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, KPD) was founded in Berlin. - January 1919: It tried to seize power (the Spartacist revolt). The coup failed and at the end of the month right-wing forces killed the Communist leaders Rosa LuxemburgRosa LuxemburgRosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen...
and Karl LiebknechtKarl Liebknechtwas a German socialist and a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany. He is best known for his opposition to World War I in the Reichstag and his role in the Spartacist uprising of 1919...
. - March 1920: Wolfgang KappWolfgang KappWolfgang Kapp was a Prussian civil servant and journalist. He was a strict nationalist, and a nominal leader of the so-called Kapp Putsch.-Early life:...
, founder of the right wing German Fatherland Party (Deutsche Vaterlands-Partei), tried to bring down the government. The Berlin garrison chose his side, and the government buildings were occupied (the government had already left Berlin). Only a general strike could stop this putsch. - October 1, 1920: The Greater Berlin ActGreater Berlin ActThe Greater Berlin Act , in full the Law Regarding the Reconstruction of the New Local Authority of Berlin , was a law passed by the Prussian government in 1920 that greatly expanded the size of the German capital of Berlin.-History:...
created "Greater Berlin" (Groß-Berlin) by incorporating several neighboring towns and villages like CharlottenburgCharlottenburgCharlottenburg is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, named after Queen consort Sophia Charlotte...
, KöpenickKöpenickKöpenick is a historic town and locality that is situated at the confluence of the rivers Dahme and Spree in the south-east of the German capital city of Berlin. It was formerly known as Copanic and then Cöpenick, only officially adopting the current spelling in 1931...
or SpandauSpandauSpandau is the fifth of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is the fourth largest and westernmost borough, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and along the western bank of the Havel, but the least populated.-Overview:...
from the Province of Brandenburg into the city; Berlin's population doubled overnight from about 2 to nearly 4 million inhabitants. - 1922: The foreign minister Walther RathenauWalther RathenauWalther Rathenau was a German Jewish industrialist, politician, writer, and statesman who served as Foreign Minister of Germany during the Weimar Republic...
was murdered in Berlin. The city was in shock: half a million people attended his funeral.
The economic situation was bad. Germany had to pay large sums of reparation money after the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
, and the government reacted by printing so much money that inflation was enormous. Especially workers and pensioners were the victim of this policy. At the worst point of the inflation one dollar was worth about 4.2 trillion marks. From 1924 onwards the situation became better because of newly arranged agreements with the allied forces, American help, and a sounder fiscal policy. The heyday of Berlin began. It became the largest industrial city of the continent. People like the architect Walter Gropius
Walter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture....
, physicist Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
, painter George Grosz
George Grosz
Georg Ehrenfried Groß was a German artist known especially for his savagely caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the 1920s...
and writers Arnold Zweig
Arnold Zweig
Arnold Zweig was a German writer and anti-war activist.He is best known for his World War I tetralogy.-Life and work:Zweig was born in Glogau, Silesia son of a Jewish saddler...
, Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
and Kurt Tucholsky
Kurt Tucholsky
Kurt Tucholsky was a German-Jewish journalist, satirist and writer. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Kaspar Hauser, Peter Panter, Theobald Tiger and Ignaz Wrobel. Born in Berlin-Moabit, he moved to Paris in 1924 and then to Sweden in 1930.Tucholsky was one of the most important journalists of...
made Berlin one of the major the cultural centers of Europe. Brecht spent his last years in the Weimar-era Berlin (1930–1933) working with his ‘collective’ on the Lehrstücke. Night life was blooming in 1920s Berlin.
In 1922, the railway system, that connected Berlin to its neighboring cities and villages was electrified and transformed into the S-Bahn, and a year later Tempelhof airport
Tempelhof International Airport
Berlin Tempelhof Airport was an airport in Berlin, Germany, situated in the south-central borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. The airport ceased operating in 2008 in the process of establishing Schönefeld as the sole commercial airport for Berlin....
was opened. Berlin was the second biggest inland harbor of the country. All this infrastructure was needed to transport and feed the over 4 million Berliners.
But not all was well. Even before the 1929 crash, 450,000 people were unemployed. In the same year Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's Nazi Party won its first seats in the city parliament. On July, 1932, the Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n government under Otto Braun
Otto Braun
This article is about the Prime Minister of Prussia. For the German Communist and once the Comintern military adviser to the Chinese Communist revolution see Otto Braun ....
in Berlin was dismissed by presidential decree. The republic was nearing its breakdown, under attack by extreme forces from the right and the left. On January 30, 1933, Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.
Third Reich
Berlin made some progress toward being a model National Socialist city after Joseph GoebbelsJoseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
became Gauleiter
Gauleiter
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...
in 1926. After 1933 the city became the capital of the new Third Reich.
On February 27, 1933 the Reichstag building
Reichstag (building)
The Reichstag building is a historical edifice in Berlin, Germany, constructed to house the Reichstag, parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Reichstag until 1933, when it was severely damaged in a fire. During the Nazi era, the few meetings of members of the...
was set on fire. The fire gave Hitler the opportunity to set aside the constitution: for details, see "Reichstag fire
Reichstag fire
The Reichstag fire was an arson attack on the Reichstag building in Berlin on 27 February 1933. The event is seen as pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany....
".
Around 1933, some 160,000 Jews were living in Berlin: one third of all German Jews, 4% of the Berlin population. A third of them were poor immigrants from Eastern Europe, who lived mainly in the Scheunenviertel near Alexanderplatz
Alexanderplatz
Alexanderplatz is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin, near the Fernsehturm. Berliners often call it simply Alex, referring to a larger neighborhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the City Hall in the southwest.-Early...
. The Jews were persecuted from the beginning of the Nazi regime. In March, all Jewish doctors had to leave the Charité hospital. In the first week of April, Nazi officials ordered the German population not to buy from Jewish shops.
The 1936 Summer Olympics
1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona...
were held in Berlin and used as a showcase for Nazi Germany (though the Games had been given to Germany before 1933). In order to not alienate the foreign visitors, the "forbidden for Jews" signs were temporarily removed.
Nazi rule destroyed Berlin's Jewish community, which numbered 160,000 before the Nazis came to power. After the pogrom of Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
in 1938, thousands of the city's Jews were imprisoned. Around 1939, there were still 75,000 Jews living in Berlin. The majority of German Jews in Berlin were taken to the Grunewald railway station in early 1943 and shipped in stock car
Stock car (rail)
In railroad terminology, a stock car or cattle wagon is a type of rolling stock used for carrying livestock to market...
s to death camps such as Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
, where most were murdered in the Holocaust. Only some 1200 Jews survived in Berlin by hiding.
Thirty kilometers (30 kilometres (18.6 mi)) northwest of Berlin, near Oranienburg
Oranienburg
Oranienburg is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel.- Geography :Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin.- Division of the town :...
, was Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
, where mainly political opponents and Russian prisoners of war were incarcerated. Tens of thousands died there. Sachsenhausen had subcamps near industries, where the prisoners had to work. Many of these camps were in Berlin.
Nazi plans for postwar Berlin
In the pre-World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
period Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and his subordinates had great plans to transform Berlin into a center fit for his new empire. Therefore he and his architect Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
made plans for the new Berlin, the so-called Welthauptstadt Germania
Welthauptstadt Germania
Welthauptstadt Germania refers to the projected renewal of the German capital Berlin during the Nazi period, part of Adolf Hitler's vision for the future of Germany after the planned victory in World War II...
.
On the site of today's Parliamentary offices (Paul-Löbe-Haus) adjacent to the Reichstag, Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
planned to construct the Volkshalle
Volkshalle
The ' , also called ' or ' , was a huge domed monumental building planned by Adolf Hitler and his architect Albert Speer for Germania. The project was never accomplished....
(The People's Hall), 250 m high, seven times higher than St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...
in Rome, and with an enormous copper dome. It was planned to be large enough to hold 170,000 people. (After the war, Speer admitted that the plan was unviable due to a meteorological problem - namely, that the body heat and perspiration produced so many people inside would generate clouds and even precipitation [rain] inside the dome). From the People's Hall, a southbound avenue was planned, the Avenue of Victory, 23 m wide and 5.6 kilometres (3.5 mi) long. At the other end there would have been the new railway station, and next to it Tempelhof Airport. Halfway down the avenue there would have been a huge arch 117 m high, so large that the Arc de Triomphe
Arc de Triomphe
-The design:The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin , in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture . Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Jean-Pierre Cortot; François Rude; Antoine Étex; James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
would fit inside it. It was projected to be a monument commemorating those fallen during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The project was to finish in 1950, and Berlin was to be re-named "Germania" on that occasion. But the construction never started, as Hitler decided it would be madness to start such a project during a war. Hitler also thought the Allied air strikes very practical, mostly because it made demolishing the old Berlin so much cheaper.
Today only a few structures bear witness to the large-scale plans of Germania. Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
's Reichsluftfahrtministerium (National Ministry of Aviation), Tempelhof International Airport
Tempelhof International Airport
Berlin Tempelhof Airport was an airport in Berlin, Germany, situated in the south-central borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. The airport ceased operating in 2008 in the process of establishing Schönefeld as the sole commercial airport for Berlin....
, Olympiastadion, and a series of street lights on the East-West Axis on Kaiserdamm and Straße des 17 Juni are all that remain. Hitler's Reich Chancellery
Reich Chancellery
The Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany in the period of the German Reich from 1871 to 1945...
was demolished by Soviet occupation authorities.
Berlin during the war
- 1940: An Allied air-raid on Berlin for propaganda purposes.
- 1943: Allied bombardment of BerlinBattle of Berlin (air)The Battle of Berlin was a British bombing campaign on Berlin from November 1943 – March 1944. The campaign was not limited solely to Berlin. Other German cities were attacked to prevent concentration of defences in Berlin, and Bomber Command had other responsibilities and operations to conduct...
started in earnest. Raids on German major cities grew in scope and raids of over 1,000 4-engined bombers were not uncommon by 1944. (On March 18, 1945 alone, for example, 1,250 American bombers attacked the city). - April 1945: Berlin was an obvious objective for Allied troops. The Race to BerlinRace to BerlinThe Race to Berlin refers mainly to the competition between two Soviet Marshals to be the first to enter Berlin during the final months of World War II....
refers to the competition of Allied generals during the final months of World War II to enter Berlin first. In a controversial decision, U.S. General Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight D. EisenhowerDwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
halted Anglo-American troops on the ElbeElbeThe Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
River. The whereabouts of Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
were in doubt, and some (including Eisenhower's chief of staff, General Walter Bedell Smith) felt that the German government may in fact have moved to the Bavarian Alps to establish a redoubt. German forces west of Berlin had—against Hitler's orders—established a corridor to the city free of major defensive works, but by mutual agreement, Berlin was earmarked for the Red Army, who converged on Berlin with several Fronts (the equivalent of Army Groups in the German and Anglo-American armies), intent on taking the city as its final prize in the Battle of BerlinBattle of BerlinThe Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II....
. The Germans refused to surrender unconditionally, despite the inability of understrength and ill-equipped armies to prevent the fall of the city. Hitler remained in supreme command. - April 30, 1945: Hitler committed suicideSuicideSuicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
in the FührerbunkerFührerbunkerThe Führerbunker was located beneath Hitler's New Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex which was constructed in two major phases, one part in 1936 and the other in 1943...
underneath the Reich ChancelleryReich ChancelleryThe Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany in the period of the German Reich from 1871 to 1945...
. Resistance did not end with Hitler's death, though most of the city was in Soviet hands by that point. - May 2, 1945: Berlin finally capitulated to the SovietSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
army. The Germans had undergone phenomenal suffering during Soviet operations on their soil, beginning with the first battles in East Prussia in the autumn of 1944. In particular, hundreds of thousands of women were subjected to rape by Soviet service personnel. The anonymous A Woman in Berlin (ISBN 1-84408-111-7) is a harrowing personal account of survival. The battle itself has been well chronicled; The Fall of Berlin by A. Beevor (ISBN 0-670-03041-4) gives a detailed account with particular attention paid to civilian suffering. Cornelius Ryan also published an earlier book on the fall of Berlin entitled The Last Battle. Other books include Battle for Berlin: End of the Third Reich by Earl Ziemke (Ballantyne Books, 1968), Berlin 1945: The Final Reckoning by Karl Bahm (ISBN 0-7603-1240-0) as well as books by After the Battle Magazine and the Osprey Campaign series.
Destruction of buildings and infrastructure was nearly total in parts of the inner city business and residential sectors. The outlying sections suffered relatively little damage. This averages to one fifth of all buildings (50% in the inner city) for overall Berlin.
The divided city
Stunde Null
Stunde Null is the German language equivalent of "zero hour", a military planning term indicating the beginning of some operation or event. Historically, Stunde Null specifically refers to the capitulation of the Nazi government on May 8, 1945, at midnight, marking the end of World War II in Germany...
marked a new beginning for the city. Greater Berlin was divided into four sectors by the Allies under the London Protocol
London Protocol
-1814:On June 21, 1814, a secret convention between the Great Powers: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Prussia, Austria, and Russia awarded the territory of current Belgium and the Netherlands to William I of the Netherlands, then "Sovereign Prince" of the United Netherlands...
of 1944, one each for:
- the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, consisting of the Boroughs of NeuköllnNeuköllnNeukölln is the eighth borough of Berlin, located in the southeastern part of the city and was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city...
, KreuzbergKreuzbergKreuzberg, a part of the combined Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte since 2001, is one of the best-known areas of Berlin...
, TempelhofTempelhofTempelhof is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of the former Tempelhof Airport, one of the earliest commercial airports in the world. It is now deserted and shows as a blank spot on maps of Berlin. Attempts are being made to save the still-existing...
, SchönebergSchönebergSchöneberg is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg....
, SteglitzSteglitz-ZehlendorfSteglitz-Zehlendorf is the sixth borough of Berlin, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Steglitz and Zehlendorf.-Demographics:...
and Zehlendorf;(See : commandants of Berlin American Zone) - the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, consisting of the Boroughs of TiergartenTiergartenTiergarten is a locality within the borough of Mitte, in central Berlin . Notable for the great and homonymous urban park, before German reunification, it was a part of West Berlin...
, CharlottenburgCharlottenburgCharlottenburg is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, named after Queen consort Sophia Charlotte...
, WilmersdorfWilmersdorfWilmersdorf is an inner city locality of Berlin, formerly a borough by itself but since Berlin's 2001 administrative reform a part of the new borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.-History:...
and SpandauSpandauSpandau is the fifth of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is the fourth largest and westernmost borough, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and along the western bank of the Havel, but the least populated.-Overview:...
; (See :commandants of Berlin British Zone) - FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, consisting of the Boroughs of Wedding and ReinickendorfReinickendorfReinickendorf is the twelfth borough of Berlin. It encompasses the northwest of the city area, including the Berlin-Tegel Airport, Lake Tegel, spacious settlements of detached houses as well as housing estates like Märkisches Viertel.-Subdivision:...
; (See :commandants of Berlin French Zone) - the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, consisting of the Boroughs of MitteMitteMitte is the first and most central borough of Berlin. It was created in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by the merger of the former districts of Mitte proper, Tiergarten and Wedding; the resulting borough retained the name Mitte. It is one of the two boroughs which comprises former West and...
, Prenzlauer BergPrenzlauer BergPrenzlauer Berg is a locality of Berlin, in the borough of Pankow.Until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a borough of Berlin; in that year it was included in the borough of Pankow....
, PankowPankowPankow is the third borough of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow.- Overview :...
, WeißenseeBerlin-WeißenseeWeissensee is a locality in the borough of Pankow in Berlin, Germany, named for the small lake Weißer See within it. Before Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, Weissensee was a borough in its own right, consisting of the localities of Weissensee, Heinersdorf, Blankenburg, Karow and...
, FriedrichshainFriedrichshainFriedrichshain is a part of Berlin's borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, and like Kreuzberg across the river it has its own distinct character, with the result that the new double name is hardly ever used outside government administration. From its creation in 1920 until Berlin's 2001...
, LichtenbergLichtenbergLichtenberg is the eleventh borough of Berlin, Germany. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it absorbed the former borough of Hohenschönhausen.-Overview:...
, TreptowTreptowTreptow is a former borough in the southeast of Berlin. It merged with Köpenick to form Treptow-Köpenick in 2001.-Geography:The district was composed by the localities of Alt-Treptow, Plänterwald, Baumschulenweg, Niederschöneweide, Johannisthal, Adlershof, Altglienicke and Bohnsdorf....
, and KöpenickKöpenickKöpenick is a historic town and locality that is situated at the confluence of the rivers Dahme and Spree in the south-east of the German capital city of Berlin. It was formerly known as Copanic and then Cöpenick, only officially adopting the current spelling in 1931...
; (See :commandants of Berlin Soviet Zone) .
The Soviet victors of the Battle of Berlin
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II....
immediately occupied all of Berlin. They handed the American, British and French sectors (later known as West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
) to the American and British Forces in July 1945: the French occupied their sector a little later. The Soviets used the period from May 1945 to July 1945 to dismantle industry, transport and other facilities in West Berlin, including removing railway tracks, as reparations for German war damage in the Soviet Union. This practice also continued in East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
and the Soviet occupation zone after 1945.
Berlin's unique situation as a city half-controlled by Western forces in the middle of the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany made it a natural focal point in the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. Though the city was initially governed by a Four Power Allied Control Council with a leadership that rotated monthly, the Soviets withdrew from the council as East-West relations deteriorated and began governing their sector independently. The council continued to govern West Berlin, with the same rotating leadership policy, though now only involving France, Great Britain, and the United States.
East Germany chose Berlin (in practice, East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
) as its capital when the country was formed from the Soviet occupation zone in October 1949; however, this was rejected by the western allies, who continued to regard Berlin as an occupied city that was not legally part of any German state. Although half the size and population of West Berlin (which the East German authorities generally referred to as "Westberlin"), it included most of the historic center.
West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, formed on 23 May 1949 from the American, British, and French zones, had its seat of government and de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
capital in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, although Berlin was symbolically named as the de jure
De jure
De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".De jure = 'Legally', De facto = 'In fact'....
West German capital in the West German Basic Law (Grundgesetz).
West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
de jure
De jure
De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".De jure = 'Legally', De facto = 'In fact'....
remained under the rule of the Western Allies, but for most practical purposes was treated as a part of West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
.
Blockade and airlift
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
on 26 June 1948, in what became known as the "Berlin Blockade
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War and the first resulting in casualties. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway and road access to the sectors of Berlin under Allied...
", in the hope of gaining control of the whole of Berlin. The Western Allies undertook a massive logistical effort to supply the western sectors of the city through the Berlin Airlift, known by the West Berliners as "die Luftbrücke" (the Air Bridge). The blockade lasted almost a year, ending when the Soviets once again allowed ground access to West Berlin on 11 May 1949.
As part of this project, US Army engineers expanded Tempelhof Airport
Tempelhof International Airport
Berlin Tempelhof Airport was an airport in Berlin, Germany, situated in the south-central borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. The airport ceased operating in 2008 in the process of establishing Schönefeld as the sole commercial airport for Berlin....
. Because sometimes the deliveries contained sweets and candy for the children, the planes were also nicknamed "Raisin bombers
Raisin bombers
Raisin Bombers was the name Berliners gave to the transport aircraft of the Western Allies, which brought in supplies to the western half of the city of Berlin during the Berlin Blockade in 1949....
".
The June 17 Uprising
60 construction workers building the showpiece Stalin-AlleeStalin-Allee
Stalin-Allee is a German short film by director Sven Boeck.The film focuses on the Karl-Marx-Allee, also still known as Stalin-Allee. The homogeneous architecture of the street is unique in Europe. In 1952, construction work began...
in East Berlin went on strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
on 16 June 1953, to demand a reduction in recent work-quota increases. They called for a general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
the next day, 17 June. The general strike and protest marches turned into rioting and spread throughout East Germany. The East German police failed to quell the unrest. It had to be suppressed by Soviet troops, who encountered stiff resistance from angry crowds across East Germany, and responded with live ammunition. At least 153 people were killed in the suppression of the uprising.
The continuation of the street "Unter den Linden
Unter den Linden
Unter den Linden is a boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is named for its linden trees that line the grassed pedestrian mall between two carriageways....
" on the western side of the Brandenburg Gate
Brandenburg Gate
The Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city centre at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which...
was renamed Straße des 17. Juni
Straße des 17. Juni
The Straße des 17. Juni is a street in central Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is the western continuation of the Unter den Linden. It runs east-west through the Tiergarten, a large forest park to the west of the city centre. At the eastern end is the Brandenburg Gate and at the western end is...
in honor of the uprising, and 17 June was proclaimed a national holiday in West Germany.
Berlin Wall
On August 13, 1961 the communist East German government started to build a wall, physically separating West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
from East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
and the rest of East Germany, as a response to massive numbers of East German citizens fleeing into West Berlin as a way to escape to the west. The East German government called the Wall the "anti-fascist protection wall". The tensions between east and west were exacerbated by a tank standoff at Checkpoint Charlie
Checkpoint Charlie
Checkpoint Charlie was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War....
on 27 October 1961. West Berlin was now de facto a part of West Germany, but with a unique legal status, while East Berlin was de facto a part of East Germany.
The eastern and western sectors of Berlin were now completely separated. It was possible for Westerners to pass from one to the other only through strictly controlled checkpoints. For most Easterners, travel to West Berlin or West Germany was no longer possible. During the Wall's existence there were around 5,000 successful escapes into West Berlin; 136 people were officially killed trying to cross (see Deaths at the Berlin Wall) and around 200 were seriously injured. The sandy soil under the Wall was both a blessing and a curse for those who attempted to tunnel their way to West Berlin and freedom. Although it was fast and easy to dig through, it was also more prone to collapse.
When the first stone blocks were laid down at the Potsdamer Platz
Potsdamer Platz
Potsdamer Platz is an important public square and traffic intersection in the centre of Berlin, Germany, lying about one kilometre south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag , and close to the southeast corner of the Tiergarten park...
in the early hours of August 13, US troops stood ready with ammunition issued and watched the wall being built, stone by stone. The US Military with West Berlin police kept Berliners 300 meters away from the border. President Kennedy and the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
decided not to interfere and risk armed conflict, but instead sent protest notes to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. Massive demonstrations took place in West Berlin for a long time.
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
gave a speech about the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
in which he said, "Ich bin ein Berliner
Ich bin ein Berliner
"Ich bin ein Berliner" is a quotation from a June 26, 1963, speech by U.S. President John F. Kennedy in West Berlin. He was underlining the support of the United States for West Germany 22 months after the Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall as a barrier to prevent movement...
" – "I am a Berliner" – which meant much to a city that was a Western island in Soviet satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
territory.
Much Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
and counter-espionage took place in Berlin, against a backdrop of potential superpower confrontation in which both sides had nuclear weapons set for a range that could hit Germany. In 1971, the Four-Power Agreement on Berlin
Four Power Agreement on Berlin
The Four Power Agreement on Berlin also known as the Berlin Agreement or the Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin was agreed on 3 September 1971 by the four wartime allied powers, represented by their Ambassadors...
was signed. While the Soviet Union applied the oversight of the four powers only to West Berlin, the Western Allies emphasized in a 1975 note to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
their position that four-power oversight applied to Berlin as a whole. The agreement guaranteed access across East Germany to West Berlin and ended the potential for harassment or closure of the routes.
As many businesses did not want to operate in West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
due to its physical and economic isolation from the outside, the West German government subsidized any businesses that did operate in West Berlin.
Student movement
German student movement
The German student movement was a protest movement that took place during the late 1960s in West Germany. It was largely a reaction against the perceived authoritarianism and hypocrisy of the German government and other Western governments, and the poor living conditions of students...
. West Berlin was especially popular with young German left-wing radicals, as young men living in West Berlin were exempted from the obligatory military service required in West Germany proper: the Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg, a part of the combined Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte since 2001, is one of the best-known areas of Berlin...
district became especially well-known for its high concentration of young radicals.
The Wall afforded unique opportunities for social gatherings. The physical wall was set some distance behind the actual sector border, up to several meters behind in some places. The West Berlin police were not legally allowed to enter the space between the border and the wall, as it was technically in East Berlin and outside their jurisdiction: many people took the opportunity to throw loud parties in this space, with the West Berlin authorities powerless to intervene.
In 1968 and the following years, West Berlin became one of the centers of the student revolt; in particular, the Kreuzberg borough was the center of many riots.
Reunification
At the 40th anniversary celebration of East Germany in East BerlinEast Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
in October 1989, guest of honor Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
gave a speech indicating that he would not support hard-line positions by the East German regime, millions of whose citizens were trying to flee to West Germany across the weakening Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
.
On 9 November 1989, after a misleading press statement by Politburo member Günter Schabowski
Günter Schabowski
Günter Schabowski is a former official of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany , the ruling party during most of the existence of the German Democratic Republic...
, border guards gave in and allowed crowds from East Berlin across the frontier at the Bösebrücke. The guards believed that the authorities had decided to open the wall, but in reality no firm decision was taken and events gathered steam on their own. The East German leadership was in disarray following the resignation of party chieftain Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic as General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1971 until 1989, serving as Head of State as well from Willi Stoph's relinquishment of that post in 1976....
in October.
People of East and West Berlin climbed up and danced on the wall at the Brandenburg Gate
Brandenburg Gate
The Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city centre at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which...
in scenes of wild celebration broadcast worldwide. This time no Soviet tanks rolled through Berlin. The wall never closed again, and was soon on its way to demolition, with countless Berliners and tourists wielding hammers and chisels to secure souvenir chunks.
On Christmas Day December 25, 1989, the American conductor Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
shared with East and West Berliners and the world his Berlin Celebration Concert in order to celebrate the Fall of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
. "Ode to Joy
Ode to Joy
"Ode to Joy" is an ode written in 1785 by the German poet, playwright and historian Friedrich Schiller, enthusiastically celebrating the brotherhood and unity of all mankind...
", which Bernstein had reworded "Ode to Freedom", was performed.
A performance of Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's The Wall
The Wall
The Wall is the eleventh studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd. Released as a double album on 30 November 1979, it was subsequently performed live with elaborate theatrical effects, and adapted into a feature film, Pink Floyd—The Wall.As with the band's previous three...
took place in Potsdamer Platz
Potsdamer Platz
Potsdamer Platz is an important public square and traffic intersection in the centre of Berlin, Germany, lying about one kilometre south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag , and close to the southeast corner of the Tiergarten park...
in 1990, led by former Pink Floyd member, Roger Waters
Roger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
.
After the breakdown of Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, on 3 October 1990 Germany and Berlin were both reunited
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
. By then the Wall had been almost completely demolished, with only small sections remaining.
In June 1991 the German Parliament, the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
, voted to move the (West) German capital back from Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
to Berlin. Berlin once more became the capital of a unified Germany.
In 1999 federal ministries and government offices moved back from Bonn to Berlin, but most employees in the ministries still work in Bonn. Also in 1999, about 20 government authorities moved from Bonn to Berlin, as planned in the compensation agreement of 1994, the Berlin/Bonn Act
Berlin/Bonn Act
The Berlin/Bonn Act regulated the move of the German Bundestag and parts of the government from Bonn to Berlin. It also regulated the move of certain Federal agencies and other federal facilities to Bonn. The act was a consequence of the Hauptstadtbeschluss of June 20, 1991 which made Berlin the...
.
Historical population
- 1400: 8,000 inhabitants (Berlin and Cölln)
- 1600: 16,000
- 1618: 10,000
- 1648: 6,000
- 1709: 60,000 (after union with Friedrichswerder, Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichstadt)
- 1755: 100,000
- 1800: 172,100
- 1830: 247,500
- 1850: 418,700
- 1880: 1,124,000
- 1900: 1,888,000
- 1925: 4,036,000 (after 1920 enlargement of the territory)
- 1942: 4,478,102
- 2003: 3,388,477
- 2007: 3,402,312
External links
- Vintage Berlin: The Reunited City - slideshow by Life magazine