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West Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. It consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors established in 1945. It was in many ways integrated with, although legally not a part of, West Germany. West Germany ( Inf German: Westdeutschland or West-Deutschland) was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany ( The Soviet sector became East Berlin, which East Germany claimed as its capital; however, the Western Allies did not recognize this claim, as they asserted that the whole city was legally under four-power occupation. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990 The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state The building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 sealed the border to West Berlin, which since the end of the Second World War had been surrounded by communist East Berlin and East Germany. The Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer was a physical barrier separating West Berlin from the German Democratic Republic (GDR ( East Germany) including World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based
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Origins
The Potsdam Agreement established the legal framework for the occupation of Germany in the wake of World War II. The Potsdam Agreement was an agreement on policy for the occupation and reconstruction of Germany and other nations after fighting in the European Theatre of World War II World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including According to the agreement, Germany would be formally under the sovereignty of the four major wartime allies — the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union — until a German government acceptable to them all could be reconstituted. Sovereignty is the exclusive Right to control a Government, a country, a people or oneself The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Germany would be divided into four zones, each administered by one of the allies. Berlin, though surrounded by the Soviet zone, would be similarly divided, with the western allies occupying an enclave consisting of the western parts of the city. According to the agreement, the occupation of Berlin would end only as a result of a quadripartite agreement. (This clause did not apply to Germany as a whole. ) The western allies were guaranteed an air corridor to their sectors of Berlin, and the Soviets also informally allowed road and rail access between West Berlin and the western parts of Germany.
At first, this arrangement was officially a temporary administrative expedient, and all parties declared that Germany and Berlin would soon be reunited. However, as the relations between the western allies and the Soviet Union soured and the Cold War began, the joint administration of Germany and Berlin broke down. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the Soon Soviet-occupied Berlin and western-occupied Berlin had entirely separate city administrations. In 1948, the Soviets tried to force the issue and expel the western allies from Berlin by imposing a land blockade on the western sectors. The west responded by using its guaranteed air corridors to resupply their part of the city in what became known as the Berlin Airlift. The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 11 May 1949 was one of the first major international crises of the Cold war. In May 1949, the Soviets lifted their blockade, and the future of West Berlin as a separate jurisdiction was ensured. By the end of that year, two new states had been created out of occupied Germany — the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) in the West and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in the East — with West Berlin an enclave surrounded by, but not part of, the latter. West Germany ( Inf German: Westdeutschland or West-Deutschland) was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany ( The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state
Legal status
According to the legal theory followed by the western allies, the occupation of most of Germany ended in 1949 with the declaration of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. However, because the occupation of Berlin could only be ended by a quadripartite agreement, Berlin remained an occupied territory under the formal sovereignty of the allies. Hence, the Grundgesetz (constitution of the Federal Republic) had no application in West Berlin. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland is the Constitution of Germany. Meanwhile the Soviets unilaterally declared the occupation of East Berlin at an end along with the rest of East Germany, but this move was not recognized by the western allies who continued to view all of Berlin as a jointly occupied territory belonging to neither of the two states.
However, in many ways, West Berlin functioned as the de facto 11th state of West Germany, and was portrayed on maps published in the West as being a part of West Germany. Germany (Deutschland is a Federal Republic consisting of sixteen States, known in German as Länder (singular West Germany ( Inf German: Westdeutschland or West-Deutschland) was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany ( There was freedom of movement (to the extent allowed by geography) between West Berlin and West Germany. There were no separate immigration regulations for West Berlin: all immigration rules for West Germany were followed in West Berlin. West German entry visas issued to visitors were stamped with "valid for entry into the Federal Republic of Germany including Berlin (West)", authorizing entry to West Berlin as well as West Germany itself. A visa (short for the Latin carta visa, lit "a document that has been seen" is a document issued by a Country giving an individual
But the western allies remained the ultimate political authorities there. West Berlin was run by an elected Mayor and city government at Rathaus Schöneberg, but this government formally derived its authority from the occupying forces, not its electoral mandate. Rathaus Schöneberg is the city hall for the Borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg in Berlin.
The ambiguous legal status of West Berlin meant that West Berliners were not eligible to vote in federal elections; instead, they were indirectly represented in the Bundestag by 20 non-voting delegates chosen by the West Berlin House of Representatives. The Bundestag ("Federal Diet " or "Lower House of German Parliament" is the Parliament of Germany. Similarly, the West Berlin Senate sent non-voting delegates to the Bundesrat. The Bundesrat ("federal council" or "upper house of German parliament" is the representation of the 16 Federal States ( Bundesländer) of However as German citizens, West Berliners were able to stand for election; including Social Democrat Chancellor Willy Brandt, who was elected by means of his party's list of candidates. Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm (18 December 1913 - 8 October 1992 was a German politician Chancellor of West Germany 1969&ndash1974 Also, men there were exempt from the Federal Republic's compulsory military service; this exemption made the city a popular home for West German youths, which resulted in a flourishing counterculture that became one of the defining features of the city. Counterculture (also " counter-culture " is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a Cultural group, or
Other anomalies included "provisional ID cards" without the West German coat of arms, a ban on Lufthansa and any other West German airlines' flights to the city because the air corridors between West Germany and West Berlin as agreed in the post-war era were to be used by UK, French or U. An air corridor is a designated region of Airspace that an Aircraft must remain in during its transit through a given region S. planes only. Even without this to consider, East Germany refused to permit use of its airspace since it too claimed the Lufthansa name. Interflug was the former state Airline of East Germany from 1963 until 1991 when it ceased operations following German reunification. With West Berlin surrounded by East German territory on all sides, flights out of West Berlin would have been logistically impossible. West Berlin had its own postal administration, separate from West Germany's, which issued its own postage stamps until 1990; however the separation was merely nominal, in reality West Berlin's postal service was completely integrated with West Germany's. A postage stamp is an adhesive paper evidence of pre-paying a fee for postal services
Communist countries however did not recognize West Berlin as part of West Germany and usually portrayed it as a "third" German jurisdiction. The disagreement about Berlin's status was one of the most important debates of the Cold War.
Nationality
While East Germany established a separate East German nationality in 1967, a distinct West German nationality did not exist. Instead West Germany assumed the pre-WW2 all-German nationality to continue for all ethnic Germans in West Germany, East Germany and both parts of Berlin. So while West Berlin was not unanimously regarded as part of the Federal Republic, its citizens were treated equal to West German citizens by West German authorities nonetheless, save for the above limitations imposed by its legal status.
This meant that West Berliners could circumvent part of these limitations if they had a second home in West Germany proper. For example they could vote in Bundestag elections and they could be drafted to West German military service if they did so.
Naming conventions
Officially, West Berlin was called "Berlin (West)" by the West Germany government, and, for most of the period of its existence, "Westberlin" by the East German government, which suggested that West Berlin wasn't really part of "Berlin" as a whole; the latter began to use "Berlin (West)" in the period just before reunification. German reunification (Deutsche Wiedervereinigung took place twice after 1945 first in 1957 the Saarland was permitted to join the Federal Republic of Germany East Berlin was officially called Berlin, Hauptstadt der DDR ("Berlin, Capital of the GDR"), or simply "Berlin," by East Germany, and "Berlin (Ost)" by the West German government, "Ost-Berlin", "Ostberlin" or "Ostsektor" by West German media.
These usages were so ingrained that one could deduce a source's political leaning from the name used for Berlin or its parts.
The years of division
While West Berlin was a formally separate jurisdiction from East Berlin after 1949, there was, for more than a decade, freedom of movement between the two, and in many ways Berlin still functioned as a single city. The U-Bahn and S-Bahn public transit networks, rebuilt after the war, spanned all occupation sectors. The Berlin de U-Bahn (de Untergrundbahn underground railway is a major part of the Public transport system of the German capital Berlin. The Berlin S-Bahn is a Rapid transit system operated by S-Bahn Berlin GmbH, a subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn. Many people lived in one half of the city and had family members, friends, and jobs in the other.
As the Cold War continued, many East Germans began leaving East Germany for the West. East Germany closed the borders between East and West Germany in 1952, but did not seal off West Berlin; because there was freedom of movement between West Berlin and West Germany, Easterners could use the city as a transit point to the West.
To stop this drain of people defecting, the East German government built the Berlin Wall, thus physically closing off West Berlin from East Germany, on August 13, 1961. The Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer was a physical barrier separating West Berlin from the German Democratic Republic (GDR ( East Germany) including Events 3114 BC - According to the Lounsbury correlation the start of the Maya calendar. Year 1961 ( MCMLXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. It was still possible to travel from West Berlin to West Germany by air and by specific rail and autobahn transit routes set aside for that purpose, but inhabitants of the two Berlins were now physically and legally separated from each other. (German ˈaʊtoːbaːn plural Autobahnen; English /ˈɔːtəʊbɑːn/ is the German word for a major high- Speed Road restricted to motor
On June 26, 1963, U. Events 363 - Roman Emperor Julian is killed during the retreat from the Sassanid Empire. Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. S. President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin and gave a public speech known for its famous phrase "Ich bin ein Berliner. John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of " Ich bin ein Berliner " ("I am a Berliner quot is a quotation from a June 26, 1963 speech by U "
The Four Power Agreement on Berlin (September 1971) and the Transit Agreement (May 1972), helped to slightly ease the tensions over West Berlin and at a practical level made it easier, though with nightmarish restrictions, for West Berliners to travel to East Germany and simplified the bureaucracy for Germans travelling along the autobahn transit routes. The Four Power Agreement on Berlin also known as the Berlin Agreement or the Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin was agreed on 3 September, Follow the link for other Transit Agreements ' The Transit Agreement of May 1972 arranged access to and from West Berlin from West
At the Brandenburg Gate in 1987, President Ronald Reagan provided a challenge to the then-Soviet premier: "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. The Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor is a former City gate and one of the main symbols of Berlin and Germany. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev ( Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov;; born 2 March 1931 in Privolnoye Stavropol Krai) is a Russian politician Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. " Tear down this wall! " was the famous challenge from United States President Ronald Reagan to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy "
On November 9, 1989 the wall was opened, and the two cities were once again physically — though still not legally — united. Events 694 - Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims sentencing all Year 1989 ( MCMLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar) The so-called Two Plus Four Treaty, signed by the two German states and the four wartime allies, paved the way for German reunification and an end to the western occupation of West Berlin. The Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany, (or the Two Plus Four Agreement) was negotiated in 1990 between the Federal Republic of Germany German reunification (Deutsche Wiedervereinigung took place twice after 1945 first in 1957 the Saarland was permitted to join the Federal Republic of Germany On October 3, 1990 West Berlin and East Berlin were united as the city of Berlin, which then acceded to the Federal Republic as a state, along with the rest of East Germany. Events 42 BC - First Battle of Philippi: Triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fight an indecisive battle with Caesar's Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) West Berlin and East Berlin thus both formally ceased to exist.
Districts of West Berlin
West Berlin comprised the following boroughs:
In the American Sector:
In the British Sector:
In the French Sector:
See also
- Peaceful revolution
- 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing
- Berlin
- Berlin Blockade
- Berlin Brigade
- Berlin Wall
- Bonn
- Checkpoint Charlie
- Deutsche Bundespost Berlin
- East Berlin
- East Germany
- Germany
- Ghost station
- History of Germany since 1945
- Judgment in Berlin
- RAF Gatow
- Spandau Prison
- Stunde Null
- United States Army Berlin
- West Germany
- List of Commandants of Berlin Sectors
External links
- West Alliierte in Berlin in Berlin
- Berlin 1969 - In the forgotten midpoint of the Cold War
- Berlin Exclaves
- History of the Western Allies in Berlin
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