![]() ![]() The demolishing of the old City Palace in East Berlin starts in September with the goal of erasing a symbol of “Prussian feudalism.” In the years that follow, the two halves of the city become intricately linked with the social systems of their respective state governments. When the German Democratic Republic ( GDR) is founded in the Soviet sector on 7 October 1949, East Berlin becomes its capital. On, the Parliamentary Council names Bonn the provisional capital of the new state. Berlin retains its special status as a territory under Allied supervision (and keeps that status until reunification on 3 October 1990). On, the Federal Republic of Germany is founded in Germany’s western sectors. Until reunification in 1990, travel is permitted only on transit routes designated by the eastern side and via the air corridors agreed on by the Allies during the war. Access to West Berlin through the Soviet occupied zone remains difficult, however. The Soviet Union ends the blockade of Berlin’s western sectors on May 12, and the western Allies respond by dropping their economic sanctions against the Soviet occupied zone. One visible expression of these measures is the two-pfennig “Notopfer Berlin” stamp introduced in the western occupied zones on April 1 and used until 1956 to raise money for Berlin. The difficulties caused by the blockade give rise to the first comprehensive package of financial aid measures for the isolated city, funded by an emergency levy. This temporary arrangement was to last for more than 40 years. The elected city assembly and lord mayor move into temporary quarters at the town hall of the western borough of Schöneberg. On December 4, the Free University of Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin) is founded in West Berlin in opposition to the old Friedrich Wilhelm University (known as Humboldt University starting in 1949) in the city’s eastern half. On September 9, Ernst Reuter gives a speech to more than 300,000 Berliners gathered in front of the ruins of the Reichtag building, appealing to the “people of the world” not to abandon “this city and its people.” The city government has now been split in two. A Magistrat, or city council, headed by Lord Mayor Friedrich Ebert and dominated by the SED is then formed in East Berlin on November 30. Increasing harassment by SED supporters forces the city assembly to convene its sessions in the western half of the city, starting on September 6. ![]() The blockade also puts an end to the joint administration of Berlin. The western victorious powers become protecting powers and friends. The western Allies respond with the Berlin Airlift, an unprecedented operation supplying the entire city by air. ![]() The SPD receives 48.7 percent of the vote, the CDU 22.2 percent, the SED 19.8 percent, and the LDP 9.3 percent.Ĭonflicts over currency reform, among other things, trigger a Soviet Union blockade of the western sectors from June 1948 to May 1949. On October 20, with voter turnout of 92.3 percent, Berlin elects its first city assembly since the end of the war. The unification in April in the Soviet occupied zone and East Berlin of the KPD and the SPD to form the Socialist Unity Party (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands – SED), pushed through by the Soviet military administration and the KPD, leads to severe conflicts between the Allies and between local party organizations. Growing conflicts of interest between the victorious powers with regard to the postwar order in Europe in general and Germany in particular put an end to the Allies’ joint administration of the city. In accordance with an agreement signed by the Allies, the city is divided into four sectors and administered jointly by the occupying powers, the United States of America, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. Īfter the war ends on, much of Berlin is nothing but rubble: 600,000 apartments have been destroyed, and only 2.8 million of the city’s original population of 4.3 million still live in the city. The Berlin garrison capitulates on May 2, six days before the end of the Second World War in Europe. ![]()
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