From the end of the Second World War through 1990, the city of Berlin, the former capital of Germany and its largest city, was split in two. The two Berlin's, East and West, were in a geopolitical situation unlike any that the world had seen before or since. This one city split in two was ground zero for the Cold War. Here, the conflict between East and West was a daily reality for the people who lived on both sides. Learn more about East and West Berlin, how they came to be, and how they came back
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In this episode, I want to focus on the city itself, its unique situation during the Cold War, and how it came to be. Berlin's origins date back to the 13th century when it was founded as a small settlement on the banks of the River Spree. It gradually grew in importance, particularly in the 17th century, when it became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and later the Kingdom of Prussia.
Berlin's significance as a cultural, political, and economic hub continued to grow, especially during the 19th and early 20th centuries, as Germany became unified under Prussian leadership in 1871. This period saw Berlin transformed into a vibrant metropolis known for its artistic and intellectual vitality. Berlin grew in importance and in size throughout the 20th century, as it was the German capital during both World Wars.
The division of Berlin originated before the end of the war with the London Protocol of September 1944. The London Protocol was an agreement amongst the Allies, specifically the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, concerning the post-World War II occupation of Germany. Drafted during a series of conferences in London, the Protocol established the division of Germany into three occupational zones, each managed by one of the major Allied powers.
Additionally, it specified that Berlin, despite being located deep within the Soviet zone, would be jointly occupied by the Allied powers, each controlling a separate sector of the city. The terms of the Protocol with regards to Berlin were confirmed after the war at the Potsdam Conference in August of 1945, except that it added France to the division of Berlin and gave them a sector of the city to control.
The result of the Potsdam Conference was a communique issued by the Allies, not any sort of formal treaty. It was more of a recognition of the reality on the ground. The occupation and division of Berlin into sectors controlled by the various Allies was intended to be a short-term situation. The original intent was for the whole city to be administered jointly by the four Allied countries in a committee known as the Allied Commenda Toura.
This was to be a subordinate group to the Allied Control Council, which served a similar role for all of Germany. Under the terms agreed upon at the Potsdam Conference, the French, British and American sectors of Berlin would all have access to the respective sectors of Germany by road, rail and air. Whatever goodwill existed between the Allies soon began to fall apart as it became clear that the Soviets had very different plans for their areas of occupation.
The disagreements between the Soviets and the Americans, British and French, came to a head when the Western zones of Germany introduced a new currency called the Deutsche Mark. The Soviets viewed this as an attempt by the Western powers to rest economic control from the Soviets. They attempted to force the Western powers to abandon their sectors of Berlin by putting a blockade on West Berlin.
Beginning on June 24, 1948, all rail, road and canal access to West Berlin was closed, and all electricity was cut off. The only way in or out of Berlin was via the air, so the British and Americans conducted a massive airlift to bring food, supplies and fuel into West Berlin. During the blockade, the Soviets removed all of the city officials in Berlin. This resulted in the Western sectors electing their own parliament and eventually their own mayor.
I've done an entire episode on the Berlin airlift, but suffice it to say that the British and Americans didn't give up in abandon their sectors of Berlin. Instead, on May 12, 1949, the Soviets gave up on their blockade. Just two weeks later, the nation of West Germany was formed out of the combined British, French and American zones of Germany. One thing that most people, including many Germans, do not realize, is that West Berlin was never formally a part of West Germany.
For the entirety of its existence, it was technically still under military occupation. The reason for the confusion is that while it was technically separate, there was a great deal of cooperation between West Germany and West Berlin, and for all practical purposes, West Berlin acted as if it were part of West Germany. Article 127 of the Basic Law of the Federal German Republic stipulated that all federal laws extended to greater Berlin.
In West Berlin, the city established its own constitution in 1950, which declared West Berlin to be a state of West Germany, and that West Berlin was subject to the Basic Laws that were considered superior to those of the city. Despite both sides agreeing that they were part of the same country, people in West Berlin could not vote in West German federal elections. Instead, they had four non-voting representatives in the West German Bundesrat.
Because West Berlin was not technically part of West Germany, citizens of West Berlin were exempt from mandatory military service, and this made West Berlin a destination for those wanting to avoid military conscription. Citizens of West Berlin were given West German passports, but they couldn't use them to enter East Berlin or East Germany because they didn't recognize West Berlin as being part of West Germany.
In East Berlin, there was a similar odd situation. When East Germany was declared a country in 1949, it claimed Berlin as its capital. However, East Berlin's representatives to the Volkskamer, the East German parliament, didn't have voting rights until 1981. Not that it really mattered because the Volkskamer was really just a rubber stamp body.
The Western Allies never recognized East Berlin as the capital of East Germany. They only recognized the Soviet occupying authority, which was the agreement that they signed after the war. Throughout the 1950s, as the Cold War intensified, West Berlin was a thorn in the side of the Soviets. The economy in East Berlin and East Germany as a whole was stagnating. Many of its citizens were disillusioned with the communist regime.
Berlin became an escape route for East Germans wishing to flee to the West. Between 1949 and 1961, it's estimated that around 2.5 million East Germans, about 15% of the population, fled to the West, with many using West Berlin as their transit point. This massive emigration included a disproportionate number of young and educated people and severely impacted the East German workforce and economy.
During this period, travel between East and West Berlin was supposed to be conducted via checkpoints, and eventually, most were closed to East Berliners. However, it was still pretty easy to get from East to West Berlin if you really wanted to. The problem with West Berlin was that everything was very visible to the people in East Berlin. Everywhere else in the communist block, regular people couldn't verify for themselves if the propaganda they were told was true.
In East Berlin, everyone could see just how much better life was in West Berlin. The powers that be couldn't hide it, and to make it worse, West Berlin was a giant loophole for anyone who wanted to escape the system. The loss of citizens was a significant embarrassment to the East German government and the Soviet Union as it was a clear repudiation of the socialist regime.
The Soviet response was to build a wall around West Berlin. In the early hours of August 13, 1961, East German troops, with the support of Soviet forces, began to roll out barbed wire and direct barriers between East and West Berlin. The initial makeshift barriers eventually became a fortified concrete wall that completely encircled West Berlin, effectively sealing off the escape route for East Germans.
The wall was supplemented by guard towers, anti-vehicle trenches, and a wide area known as the Death Strip, which was cleared of cover and monitored by soldiers to prevent escape ease. The erection of the Berlin wall fundamentally changed the city. Prior to the construction of the wall, interactions between the eastern and western parts of the city were limited and controlled. After the construction of the wall, interactions fell close to zero.
The wall was to keep East Germans out of West Berlin. It was actually still possible for West Berliners to travel to West Germany by land. There were roads that could be taken from West Berlin to West Germany, although it did require documentation and border checks. Likewise, some trains that were closed to East Germans ran from West Berlin to West Germany. The Berlin wall ended up becoming the symbol of the Cold War.
Over the next several decades, defections from East to West plummeted, approximately 5,000 people managed to make it over, under or around the wall to West Berlin. It's believed several hundred people were killed trying to flee to the West. By the mid-1980s, the Soviet Union was facing significant economic challenges.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the policies of Glasnos, or openness, and Perestroika, or restructuring, to reform the economy and make the system more transparent and open. These policies signaled a shift in Soviet attitudes towards control over Eastern Europe, suggesting a move away from strict intervention in the affairs of satellite states.
In Poland, the Solidarity Movement, a trade union and reformist movement, gained significant traction and political power, challenging the communist government. In 1989, Hungary began dismantling its border fence with Austria, creating a gap in the Iron Curtain. This allowed East Germans who could travel more easily to Hungary and escape route to the West. Thousands of East Germans fled to the West via Hungary, escalating the crisis for East Germany.
Throughout 1989, East Germany witnessed a wave of protests, initially sparked by the rigging of local elections in May. These protests grew in size and scope, especially in cities like Leipzig and Dresden. The demonstrations were largely peaceful and called for greater freedoms and reform of the East German government. In response to the mounting pressure, Eric Haniker, the leader of East Germany who had been in power since 1971, was forced to resign in October of 1989.
On November 9, 1989, an East German government spokesperson, Günther Schabowski, mistakenly announced during a press conference that East Germans would be allowed to cross into West Berlin immediately. This announcement was premature and unintended, but it led to thousands of East Germans rushing to the wall, overwhelming the border guards who unprepared and unsure, eventually just opened the gates.
The scenes of jubilation that followed with East and West German celebrating together, hammering at the wall and crossing freely were broadcast around the world, symbolizing the effective end of the Cold War. This moment wasn't just about the physical demolition of the wall, but also a metaphorical lifting of the Iron Curtain.
Within a year, on October 3, 1990, Germany had unified. For several months before reunification, officials from both East and West Berlin had met to prepare the city for the transition. On December 2, 1990, the first city-wide election took place with the newly elected city administration taking office on January 24, 1991.
As part of the Reenification Agreement, Berlin was once again selected as the country's capital. While it was the official capital, there was debate about moving the West German government offices to Berlin from Bonn. There were suggestions for adopting a Netherlands-type arrangement where one city, Amsterdam, was the capital, and another city, the Hague, was the seat of government. The resolution to move the government to Berlin was only passed with 51.5% of the vote.
I mentioned earlier that technically, Berlin was never part of West Germany. This technicality had to be resolved before the city could be re-unified. Before World War II powers, the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, plus representatives from East and West Germany, attended what became known as the 4-plus-2 conference in Moscow. On September 12, 1990, all foreignations that controlled Berlin sectors signed a treaty that renounced all claims and control in Berlin.
The last details of the treaty were fulfilled on March 15, 1991, formally and officially ending the post-war occupation of Germany and Berlin. Today, East and West Berlin are no more. There's just Berlin. Yet you can see evidence of the split everywhere in the city. There are lines in the ground where the wall once stood. There are several museums and monuments dedicated to the Cold War. Even the construction and buildings in this city still reflect the period from when the city was split.
The division of East and West Berlin wasn't just a result of the Cold War, it became a metaphor of the Cold War. When the wall fell and the city was reunited, it marked a literal and figurative end to a chapter in history. The executive producer of everything everywhere daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Benji Long and Cameron Keever. I want to give a big shout out to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon, including the show's producers.
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