Introduction
Berlin is the capital of Germany as well as the largest city in the country. It has figured prominently in more than 800 years of German history. During World War II, Berlin was almost reduced to rubble. After the war the city faced more than four decades of division until the historic fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. Today Berlin has been transformed into a prominent center of culture, education, and industry.
Berlin lies in the heart of the North German Plain in the wide valley of the Spree River, which runs through the center of the city. It is located 55 miles (88 kilometers) west of Poland and 112 miles (180 kilometers) south of the Baltic Sea.
Cityscape
After the war, Berlin and the rest of Germany were divided into sections. The Soviet Union controlled East Germany and East Berlin while the United States, France, and Great Britain occupied West Germany and West Berlin. The political and physical division of Berlin had a major influence on the look of the city. Until November 1989, the most notorious feature of the city was the Berlin Wall. The wall separated West Berlin from East Berlin and the rest of East Germany for almost 30 years. It was erected by the East German Communist government in 1961 to stop free movement between East Berlin and West Berlin.
The wall was originally a barbed wire barricade and was replaced by a concrete wall that averaged 12 feet (4 meters) in height. It was painted white to highlight any person who tried to escape to the West by climbing over it. It included electrified fences, fortifications, and guard posts. Checkpoint Charlie, the wall's most famous guard post, now holds remnants of the wall, as well as a small museum dedicated to its history.
Photograph:The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin.
* The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin.
The center (Mitte) of Berlin is the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin's triumphal arch. The gate sits at one end of the historic Unter den Linden, a treelined street. The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church stands at one end of the Kurfurstendamm, a street known to Berliners as Ku'damm for short. Bombed-out ruins of the old church stand were incorporated into the replacement church that was built in 1961. Nearby is the giant, modern Europa Center, with restaurants, galleries, and sports facilities. Cafes and shops line the Kurfurstendamm.
Photograph:Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin.
* Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin.
Just to the north is the Tiergarten, or zoo. Near the northern end of the Tiergarten is the Reichstag (parliament) building. Built between 1884 and 1894 and burned in 1933, it has been restored and was reopened as the home of one house of the German parliament in 1999. Off the Kurfurstendamm is the old Charlottenburg Palace, also a popular tourist attraction. A television tower rises just behind the rebuilt 13th-century Marienkirche, Berlin's oldest surviving church. Beyond it is the modern Alexanderplatz, a shopping and gathering place.
Culture
Berlin is home to internationally acclaimed artistic companies such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1882, and the Berliner Ensemble, founded by the playwright Bertolt Brecht in 1948. The Berlin Film Festival, founded in 1951, has become one of the most important in the world. Humboldt University and the Free University are two of the most notable educational institutions in the city.
The city is also famous for its many excellent museums. Museum Island contains the Old and New museums, the National Gallery, the Bode Museum, and Pergamon Museum. In addition, the Egyptian Museum is across from the Charlottenburg Palace.
Economy
Reunited Berlin is one of Germany's leading centers of industry and technology. The manufacture of traditional products—textiles, metals, clothing, porcelain and china, bicycles, and machinery—was revived after the World War II. Electronics is another principal postwar industry. The production of food, chemicals, cigarettes, and confectioneries flourishes in Berlin.
History
Berlin and its sister town of Kölln were both founded in the early 13th century in the territory of Brandenburg. Eventually they grew and merged, and the name Berlin was applied to both. The city grew in prominence in the 15th century when the princes of Brandenburg made Berlin their capital.
Berlin suffered great damage during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48). Frederick William, who became ruler in 1640, revived the city's fortunes with a building program and the development of canals. His successor, Frederick III, became Frederick I of Prussia—the largest and the most powerful German state at the time—and made Berlin the royal residence city.
With the opening of the Berlin-Potsdam line in 1838, Berlin became the center of an expanding rail network. In 1871 Berlin became the capital of a united German Empire. Its population was 826,000 and continued to grow rapidly, reaching 4 million by 1925.
The world wars
Germany's defeat in World War I brought to an end five centuries of rule by the Hohenzollern family. In 1918 Berlin was named capital of the newly established German Republic. For the next 15 years, Germany faced high inflation, mass unemployment, and the rise to power of Adolf Hitler. On January 31, 1933, Hitler took absolute power of Germany, and Berlin became the capital of his Third Reich.
During World War II, Allied bombing of Berlin killed an estimated 52,000 people. Another 100,000 civilians died in the battle for Berlin launched by the Soviet army on April 16, 1945. Most of Berlin's residential districts, factories, military facilities, streets, and cultural buildings were destroyed. Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin on April 30.
Division and unification
When the Allies (the Soviet Union, the United States, France, and Great Britain) won the war, they divided Berlin, along with Germany, into four occupation zones. France, Great Britain, and the United States merged their zones into one unit in 1948. In protest, the Soviet Union attempted to cut off West Berlin from the outside world. Their attempt failed, however, when the Allies delivered needed supplies such as food and fuel by plane.
Between 1949 and 1961, about 2.5 million East Germans fled to the West. The Communist East German government erected the Berlin Wall in 1961 to isolate East from West Berlin.
In 1989 Communism collapsed throughout Eastern Europe. Restrictions on travel between East and West Germany were lifted, and the Berlin Wall was opened in November. By October 1990 the two parts of Germany were reunited, and Berlin once again became the official capital of the entire country. Population (1998 estimate), 3,425,760.
