Berlin - geography.

Berlin - geography. I INTRODUCTION Berlin, capital and largest city of the Federal Republic of Germany. Administratively, Berlin also constitutes one of Germany's 16 states. Berlin became the capital of Germany in 1871, when the numerous independent kingdoms and principalities of Germany united to form a single nation-state (see German Unification (1871)). The city quickly developed into one of Europe's major industrial and cultural centers and became the single most important city in Germany. From 1945 until 1990 Berlin was a divided city. Following the defeat of the Nazi regime (see National Socialism) in World War II (1939-1945), the victorious Allied Powers--the United States, Britain, France, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)--divided Germany into four zones, each occupied by one of the Allied Powers. They also divided Berlin, which was in the Soviet sector, into similar zones. The Soviet-controlled sector of the city became known as East Berlin, and the Western-occupied sector became known as West Berlin. In 1949 East Berlin became the capital of the German Democratic Republic (known as East Germany), one of two successor states established in Germany after the war. That same year the capital of West Germany, the other successor state, was established in the city of Bonn. West Berlin remained an urban island surrounded by Communist East Germany. The city became a focus of Cold War tensions between Communist countries led by the USSR and anti-Communist states led by the United States. In 1990, following the collapse of Communism in the USSR and East Germany, Germany was reunified, and a united Berlin was declared its capital. The government gradually began moving its offices from Bonn to Berlin, a process that was largely completed by early 2000. Berlin is located in the northern European lowlands on a broad, sandy plain that surrounds the Spree River. The city's highest hill, which rises 120 m (394 ft) above sea level, consists of rubble collected after World War II. Berlin lies so far north that it gets dark by mid-afternoon in December but stays light until almost 10 PM in June. High temperatures average 23ºC (74ºF) in July and 2ºC (35ºF) in January. Precipitation averages 590 mm (23 in) a year. II BERLIN AND ITS METROPOLITAN AREA Modern Berlin covers 883 sq km (341 sq mi). In 1920 the old city merged with 8 towns, nearly 60 villages, and a number of surrounding farms and estates to form the current city boundaries. Berlin's city limits encompass the entire metropolitan area and include large areas of undeveloped land. Forests and farmlands cover nearly one-third of the city. From reunification until 2001, the city was divided into 23 boroughs. In an effort to make urban government more efficient, an administrative reform that took effect in 2001 reduced the number of boroughs to 12. At the heart of Berlin lies the medieval core of the city, located along the western bank of the Spree River. To the west of the medieval city is a formal grid of streets laid out on either side of Unter den Linden, a wide central avenue stretching from east to west and flanked with double rows of linden trees. Before the postwar division of Berlin, this area, called the Mitte (city center), served as the administrative and financial center of Berlin and contained the main banks, publishing houses, large stores, the university, and government buildings. Well-known streets crossing Unter den Linden are Friedrichstrasse and Wilhelmstrasse. The former royal park known as the Tiergarten occupies the land to the west of the Mitte district. Gradually the city's residential and industrial areas grew around the city center. In the mid-19th century a dense mass of tenements was erected to the north, east, and south of the central Mitte district. Known as Mietskasernen (rent barracks), these buildings were home to members of the working class who labored in nearby industrial plants. In contrast, aristocrats and members of the middle class lived in the peripheral communities of that time (Dahlem, Grunewald, Köpenick). Prior to World War II, Berlin contained many imposing buildings, many of them built after 1871, when Berlin became the German national capital. Much of old Berlin was devastated during World War II by Allied bombing raids and by fierce house-to-house fighting that occurred when Soviet troops captured the city in 1945 at the end of the war. Wartime destruction left the historic core of the city standing amidst 26 sq km (10 sq mi) of rubble. The victorious Allies faced a daunting task in 1945. Berlin had lost almost three-quarters of its 1.5 million residential units. During the first two months of occupation, when the USSR held full sway over all of Berlin, the Soviet Army also dismantled and removed 67 percent of Berlin's industrial capacity. After the war, the boundary between East and West Berlin was drawn through the heart of the city. In 1961 the East German government encircled West Berlin with a fortified wall that traced the boundary. This wall was known as the Berlin Wall. In the postwar redevelopment period, both East and West Berlin turned their backs on the wall and the area on either side of it, which remained a partially abandoned zone. A East Berlin For several years after 1945, East Germany paid war reparations to the USSR, thereby slowing its economic redevelopment considerably. When funds became available, East German leaders opted to focus on building housing for workers. Postwar housing construction in East Berlin often took the form of prefabricated high-rise apartment blocks that surrounded a central area containing schools, playgrounds, and shops. The largest of these, such as Marzahn on the eastern fringe of the city, housed about 100,000 people. Before reunification in 1990, the East German government restored some of the historic buildings on Unter den Linden, including the classical State Opera House and Saint Hedwig's Cathedral, both built in the mid-1700s. The East German government also restored the neoclassical Brandenburg Gate, an 18th-century city gateway at the western end of Unter den Linden that has become an international symbol of the city. B West Berlin As Berlin became a focus of the Cold War during the 1940s, West Berlin's Allied protectors strove to keep the city alive. West Germany gave tax breaks to West German firms that established or maintained businesses in West Berlin or bought goods produced there, and the Western allies provided massive economic assistance. During the Cold War years, West Berlin rebuilt its infrastructure and residential areas, expanded its subway system, and constructed a major international airport. The rebuilding of West Berlin was particularly dramatic in the 1960s, when the West German government and its allies made an effort to make the city a showcase for the benefits of capitalism. A new central business district was developed southwest of Tiergarten along the Kurfüstendamm and other nearby streets. Department stores, sidewalk cafes, throngs of people, and office towers brilliantly lit at night by neon signs made this district the equal of any other modern city center in the Western world. C United Berlin Today the borough of Mitte again forms the heart of the unified city. Following the administrative reform of 2001, Mitte was enlarged to include the former central boroughs of Wedding and Tiergarten. Other important central areas include Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, now united as the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough, and Prenzlauer Berg, now incorporated as a part of the Pankow borough. Tiergarten contains a large wooded park, a zoo, and a variety of public monuments as well as the large, modern Congress Hall and the Reichstag building, which was built from 1884 to 1894. The Reichstag and the surrounding area have undergone renovation to accommodate the Bundestag (the lower house of Germany's parliament) and new offices of the federal government. Near Tiergarten is the Kulturforum complex, including the Museum of Applied Arts, and the Bauhaus Archives and Museum, which documents the modernist Bauhaus school of architecture and design that flourished from 1919 to 1933. A museum complex lines the south edge of Tiergarten. West of the city center, in the contemporary borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, is the Kurfürstendamm, a boulevard that became the commercial center of West Berlin after the end of World War II. The ruined tower of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was built in the 1890s and destroyed in World War II, stands at the east end of the Kurfürstendamm. The memorial serves as a reminder of the devastation of war. Near Kurfürstendamm is Tauentzienstrasse, a prominent shopping area and site of the Europa Center, which houses a 22-story complex of restaurants, shops, offices, and cinemas. Kreuzberg, now a part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough, located directly south of the Mitte, is a residential area known for its large Turkish immigrant community and its concentration of younger residents. To the west of Kreuzberg and south of Tiergarten is Schöneberg, a largely middle-class residential neighborhood. This neighborhood is now part of the Tempelhof-Schöneberg borough. A half-mile north of the Unter den Linden is the Oranienburger Strasse, the heart of prewar Berlin's Jewish district. Revitalization of the area includes the restoration of the New Synagogue, built in 1866. Gangs of Nazis badly damaged the synagogue on November 9, 1938, when they organized a night of anti-Jewish rioting known as Kristallnacht (German for "Night of Broken Glass"). The synagogue is now a center for the study and preservation of Jewish culture. Berlin's oldest Jewish cemetery is nearby. To the east of the city center, the Friedrichshain neighborhood contains largely residential sections in its northern portion. One of Friedrichshain's major streets, KarlMarx-Allee, is lined by an imposing series of high-rise residential buildings constructed during the 1950s in an ornate monumental style of architecture popular in the USSR. The southern part of Friedrichshain contains storage yards for manufactured goods and industrial products. At the edge of Friedrichshain, next to the city center along the eastern bank of the Spree, is Alexanderplatz, a large square with restaurants and stores. Prior to unification, Alexanderplatz was the cultural center of East Berlin. Its most prominent feature is the Fernsehturm, a 365-m (1,198-ft) television tower topped by a popular revolving café. Berlin's tallest building, the Fernsehturm was built during the 1960s in a futuristic style and has become a popular stopping point for tourists. Near the square are the Gothic-style Marienkirche (Church of Saint Mary) and the 19th-century red brick Rathaus (city hall). To the north of the city center lie two working class neighborhoods: Wedding and Prenzlauer Berg. Wedding is an industrial center, while Prenzlauer Berg, which lies just east of the former Berlin Wall, houses workers as well as a growing community of artists and students. Even before unification, Prenzlauer Berg was a gathering point for artists and nonconformists dissatisfied with East German politics and society. Bullet holes from the war still scar the walls of the district's aging tenement buildings, many of which are in a state of disrepair and neglect. In the west and southwestern portions of the city, the landscape becomes more open, with grasslands, parks, and lakes dominating the scenery. Major natural features in this region include the extensive Grunewald forest and the Havel lakes, whose shores include a kilometer-long stretch of sandy beach. The Grunewald forest, which covers 32 sq km (12 sq mi) in southwestern Berlin, is a major recreational area for Berliners seeking relief from the crowded central city. North of the Grunewald are the residential neighborhoods of Charlottenberg and Spandau. Founded in the 13th century as an independent town, Spandau is best known as the site of a prison that housed Nazi war criminals. Its medieval streets remained relatively undamaged by World War II bombings. III POPULATION In 2005 Berlin had a population of 3,387,800, far fewer than the 4.5 million who called the city home in 1942. Between 1945 and 1990, Berlin's population diminished slightly in size. After unification, it increased by almost one-sixth. Compared to most major cities, Berlin's population began aging after 1945. In the mid-1990s the largest age group, which made up 19 percent of the population, consisted of people between the ages of 25 and 34. The next largest group included those 65 years of age or older (16 percent of the population). During the mid-1990s Berlin was home to more than 400,000 foreign citizens. Most of these immigrants came from other European countries to seek better economic conditions in Germany. More than 30 percent of Berlin's foreigners were guest workers who came from Turkey to work at temporary jobs. Protestants make up Berlin's major religious group, with nearly 950,000 members. Roman Catholics form the next largest group at 341,000. The number of Muslims stands at 183,000. The smallest religious group is the Jewish community, which has about 11,000 members. This compares to 161,000 Jews living in Berlin in 1933. Most of the prewar Jewish population was devastated during the Holocaust of the 1930s and 1940s, when Nazi leaders organized the systematic destruction of Jewish people. IV EDUCATION AND CULTURE Berlin has been a center of scientific research and theory, attracting luminaries such as Swiss physicist Albert Einstein and German physicist Werner Heisenberg. The Humboldt University of Berlin, formerly the University of Berlin (1810), has been the site of important scientific research, and its faculty has included more than 25 Nobel Prize winners. A highly regarded teaching hospital, the Charitè, was founded in Berlin in 1727. Other institutions of higher education include the Technical University of Berlin and the Free University of Berlin, as well as scientific research institutes such as the Max Planck Society and Sciences Center Berlin. The German State Library, founded in 1661, is on Unter den Linden. It contains nearly 7 million books as well as collections of maps, musical scores, records, and paintings. Located several blocks south of Tiergarten on Potsdamerstrasse, the National Library contains many of the prewar holdings from the historic Prussian State Library. Berlin has also been home to many important artists, musicians, and architects. Early architectural landmarks in Berlin include the Gothic Church of Saint Nicholas, which was built in the late 14th to early 15th century, and the Charlottenburg summer palace, which houses the Museum of Decorative Arts. In the entrance court to Charlottenburg Palace stands a famous equestrian statue of the 17th-century Great Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick William. Internationally influential architects who have worked in Berlin include 19th-century neoclassical architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel and 20th-century architect Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus school of architecture. An exhibition on the history of Germany is housed in the baroque Zeughaus, one of Berlin's finest buildings on the Unter den Linden, designed by German sculptor Andreas Schlüter and built from 1695 to 1706. Just north of Unter den Linden, the Museum Island contains some of the world's most important art collections. The Pergamon Museum has excellent displays of Greco-Roman and Asian art. The Bode Museum contains fine examples of ancient Egyptian and Byzantine art. The Old National Gallery exhibits paintings and sculpture from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. Berlin is also home to another group of famous institutions, including the Painting Gallery, which displays European painting from the 13th to 16th centuries, and the Staatliche Museum, home to the famous 14th-century-BC painted limestone bust of Egyptian queen Nefertiti. A new cultural quarter, located south of Tiergarten, contains the New National Gallery, which houses part of Berlin's collection of 20th-century Western art. Musical events take place at the State Opera House, German Opera Berlin, Komische Opera, and Schauspielhaus, a concert hall. Among the city's many theaters, two have received worldwide accord: the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz and the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, which is still home to the Berliner Ensemble, a theatrical group founded by playwright Bertolt Brecht in 1954. Located south of Tiergarten is the Philharmonie Concert Hall, a striking asymmetrical structure that serves as the home of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The city is the site of an annual International Film Festival and JazzFest Berlin. V RECREATION Berlin has an extensive system of parks and recreational facilities including the Wannsee (a lake), the beautiful botanical gardens in Steglitz, and the 31-sq-km (12-sqmi) forest of Grunewald. Tiergarten contains the largest of Berlin's nearly 50 parks and is home to the city's enormous Zoological Garden, one of the largest and oldest in the world. Berlin has about 1,600 sports and recreation groups with about 500,000 participants regulated and administered by a division of the city government. The largest of the many sports clubs is the Berlin Soccer Club. While soccer is clearly the national sport, bicycling, tennis, track and field events, car racing, horse racing, and boxing also enjoy a wide following. Each of the city's 12 boroughs runs its own recreation facilities. The most famous is the Olympic Stadium, constructed for the 1936 Olympics and still used for many different events. VI ECONOMY Following the division of the city of Berlin in 1949, the economies of the two halves of the city were integrated into their respective municipal and national economic systems. Although East Berlin constitutes only a third of the unified city and its population, it became the hub of East Germany's commercial, financial, and transportation systems, and a huge manufacturing center. Much of Berlin's industrial capacity was destroyed during and after World War II, and the economy of West Berlin suffered again during 1948 and 1949, when the USSR blockaded West Berlin in an attempt to drive out the Western powers. Beginning in the 1950s, however, West Berlin's economy was revitalized with a great deal of assistance from West Germany and from the United States, which provided support under the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan). The city eventually became an important manufacturing center, producing electrical and electronic equipment and substantial quantities of machinery, metal, textiles, clothing, chemicals, printed materials, and processed food. The city also developed as a center for international finance, research, and science. With the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the two halves of the city were once again physically integrated. Their economic integration began in July 1990. Of the two sections of the city, East Berlin underwent a greater economic upheaval, with many formerly state-owned businesses becoming private. United Berlin plays a significant role in international commerce. In 1995 the city exported and imported 8 million metric tons of goods. Since reunification, Berlin has been forced to deal with housing shortages, growing unemployment, and strikes and demonstrations by workers. Increased taxes, reduced government subsidies, and cuts in social services resulted as the German government faced the cost of revamping East Germany's economic system from a state-controlled to a free-market system. Despite these obstacles new businesses were thriving within a few years after reunification. After reunification, the German government decided to gradually move the federal government to Berlin from Bonn, which was the capital of West Germany, although eight federal ministries remain in Bonn. This decision to move most government offices back to Berlin precipitated a building boom in the city. It has also put severe financial pressure on the federal government due to the cost of constructing new government facilities and of transferring government offices from the former West German capital. Although the city is 177 km (110 miles) from the coast, river dredging, which began in the late 1700s, and the construction of an inland port provide the city with easy access to the Baltic Sea. The city has 74 km (46 mi) of natural rivers and 72 km (45 mi) of canals. The East German government completed a ring highway around the entire city in 1979. The central railroad hub is located at Central Station in eastern Berlin. The S-Bahn, a suburban railroad, connects the suburbs with the central city. To facilitate trade and the movement of people, Berlin has constructed an efficient integrated system of subways, elevated train lines, buses, and trams. Berlin has three international airports, one at Tegel in the northwest of the city, another at Tempelhof south of the center (and famed for its role during the Berlin blockade that began in 1948), and yet another at Schönefeld in the south and east beyond Berlin's city limits. VII GOVERNMENT Berlin is both a German state and a city. Its local government consists of a House of Representatives containing no fewer than 200 elected members and a Senate comprising no more than 16 department heads nominated by the mayor and approved by the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives elects a mayor and a deputy mayor. The mayor presides over the Senate. Each of the 12 boroughs has its own city hall and elects a borough mayor and a 45-member assembly. The borough governments have no power other than implementing laws passed by the Berlin Senate. A council composed of the borough mayors serves as an advisory body to the Berlin Senate. VIII HISTORY A Early History Archaeologists have found traces of hunter-gatherer activity near Berlin that date from as early as 8000 but by AD BC. In the 1st century AD Germanic tribes settled in the region, 500 they had moved south and west, leaving the area to a group of powerful Slavic tribes known as the Wends. The Frankish king Charlemagne conquered the lands in the 8th century, but the Wends regained control in the 10th century. In 1147 German feudal lords drove out the Wends. In 1230 German nobles founded Berlin on the western bank of the Spree and a twin settlement, Kölln, on an island in the Spree (now Museum Island). The two towns prospered and, like many other German cities, took advantage of the chaotic political conditions of the 13th and 14th centuries to become virtually independent of aristocratic authority. In 1359 they joined the Hanseatic League, a federation of independent northern European trading cities organized for the protection of mutual commercial interests. Berlin eventually absorbed Kölln, although the two towns were not officially merged until 1709. Berlin and Kölln were part of a small hereditary state known as Brandenburg. Until the formation of the German Empire in 1871, the area now known as Germany was divided into a series of small principalities and independent cities. Although Brandenburg was not a rich or powerful region, its ruler possessed considerable influence as an elector, one of the German aristocrats who held the right to vote in the selection of the Holy Roman Emperor (see Holy Roman Empire). In 1411 the ruler of Brandenburg died without an heir and in 1415 the emperor granted control of Brandenburg to Frederick of Nüremberg, a member of the aristocratic Hohenzollern family. To reduce the power of Berlin's city leaders, Frederick withdrew both Berlin and Kölln from the Hanseatic League and jointly made them the capital of Brandenburg. Under the Hohenzollerns, important leather, textile, and paper industries were developed in Berlin. The city also became known as a producer of pottery and beer. Beginning in 1576, Berlin entered a period of decline as repeated outbreaks of plague reduced its population. During the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) armies from across Europe fought on German territory in a religious conflict that pitted Protestant and Catholic rulers against each other. Although Brandenburg had adopted Protestantism in about 1540, its rulers remained neutral during the early years of the conflict. Berlin at first benefited from Brandenburg's neutrality, but after 1631 it came under attack by Swedish armies. These armies occupied the city on several occasions and exacted heavy financial contributions from the population. Starvation, new outbreaks of plague, arson, and robberies further impoverished the town and reduced its population to about 6,000 by the end of the war, compared to a prewar population of about 12,000 in 1600. All but a handful of its buildings were destroyed. B Prussian Capital Despite these setbacks, the Hohenzollern family remained in power in Brandenburg and Berlin. Under the leadership of Frederick William, the Great Elector of Brandenburg, Berlin's fortunes recovered in the late 17th century. Frederick William established Berlin as a major commercial, financial, and industrial center. He fortified the city, built an aristocratic quarter in the west along Unter den Linden, and established the Royal Library. In 1685 he admitted large numbers of Huguenots, Protestant religious refugees from France, who made important contributions to Berlin in the arts and sciences. Many of the Huguenot immigrants were skilled traders and craftspeople who helped develop Berlin's economy. Frederick William reorganized Brandenburg under a central administration located in Berlin and left a wellorganized government for his son Frederick III. In 1701 Frederick became King Frederick I of Prussia, a kingdom formed by the merger of Brandenburg and other territories that the Hohenzollerns had inherited in Germany and eastern Europe. Like Brandenburg, Prussia was one of many principalities and independent cities located in the region now known as Germany. Prussian territory stretched from northwest Germany to what is now the Baltic Coast of Russia. Berlin became Prussia's capital. Frederick I provided support and encouragement for artists and scholars. His efforts helped make Berlin a center of European culture and science. During Frederick's reign, sculptor and architect Andreas Schlüter built a number of baroque buildings in Berlin, including the New Palace, which was built in 1706 and destroyed in World War II. Frederick founded the Academy of the Arts as well as the Academy of Sciences, whose first president was the great philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz. Under a series of able kings, Prussia continued to expand its territory and increase its influence in European affairs. Frederick William I concentrated on expanding Prussia's military strength in order to ensure that Prussia would not be dominated by Sweden, Russia, or Austria (the major military powers in eastern and northern Europe). By the end of his reign in 1740, Berlin's population had grown to 60,000. Under his son and successor, Frederick II, who was also known as Frederick the Great, Berlin continued to expand westward and became a major European capital. When Frederick William II became king of Prussia in 1786, Berlin's population had grown to 150,000. Under Frederick William II and his son Frederick William III, Berlin and Prussia faced a powerful foreign opponent. After the outbreak of the French Revolution (17891799), a series of wars took place between France and many of the major military powers in Europe (see Napoleonic Wars). The army of French emperor Napoleon I occupied Berlin in 1806, forcing the Prussian king to transfer his government temporarily to the city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) on the Baltic Coast. However, Napoleon's occupation of Berlin was relatively uneventful. Prussia's fortunes changed following Napoleon's defeat in 1815. A conference known as the Congress of Vienna redrew the borders of European nations affected by the Napoleonic Wars and attempted to establish a balance of power among Europe's most powerful nations. The Congress restored Prussia's territory and reestablished it as one of the leading powers among the German states. During this period, Berlin entered a new phase of cultural and economic expansion. The famous University of Berlin, or Friedrich Wilhelm University, was founded in 1810. It soon grew into the greatest center of learning in Germany, attracting scholars of international rank, among them naturalist and explorer Alexander Humboldt and philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Between 1821 and 1834 architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel designed the Altes Museum and other fine public buildings in accordance with the king's desire to turn Berlin into a capital befitting a major European power. Prussia's first railroad, linking Berlin and Potsdam, was opened in 1838. Berlin became the hub of the state's rail network. By 1844 almost all German states had economic links with Prussia. C German Unity Prussia reached the peak of its power under William I and Prince Otto von Bismarck, his chancellor. Bismarck was a master of diplomacy, and he used his skills to provoke Prussia's rivals into wars aimed at increasing Prussia's territory and power. Prussia went to war with Denmark in 1864, with Austria in 1866, and with France in 1870. Prussia's highly trained and well-equipped army easily won these wars. Following Prussia's victory in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), William I and Bismarck convinced the independent German cities and states to unite into a single nation under Prussian leadership. Berlin became the capital of the newly created German Empire. King William of Prussia became Emperor William I of Germany, and Berlin traded its royal status as the capital of the kingdom of Prussia for an imperial one as the capital of the German Empire. See German Unification (1871). Berlin's physical and economic growth during the next 30 years was explosive. Between 1871 and 1900 the population doubled to 1.9 million. With the suburbs included, the population reached 2.7 million. In 1912 the Greater Berlin Association was created to coordinate the supervision of the capital and its independent suburbs. Administrative conflicts were not resolved until the creation of the city of Greater Berlin in 1920, which comprised 20 administrative districts and had a population of 3.8 million. During the early 20th century the city grew into a major industrial center, specializing in machinery, electrical goods, and textiles. Berlin's economy benefited from a wide network of railroads, which converged at the city. Extensive construction of factories and commercial buildings attracted thousands of workers, most of whom were housed in large tracts of shoddy tenements. Culturally, Berlin won worldwide fame for its excellent theaters, concerts, and exhibitions. Following Germany's defeat in World War I (1914-1918), Emperor William II abdicated, and the imperial government dissolved. A parliamentary government, known as the Weimar Republic, took office. Berlin served as the capital of the Weimar Republic from 1919 to 1933. During the republic Berlin was noted for its radical political groups and frequent clashes between Communists and Nazis. Berlin experienced a severe economic downturn during the early 1920s when extreme inflation made the German currency nearly worthless. The economy began to recover in the late 1920s, but Berlin was particularly hard hit during the worldwide economic depression, which began in 1929. During the 1920s, despite the economic and political turmoil of the times, Berlin became the center of a thriving artistic community. Its artists were at the forefront of experimental movements in painting, literature, theater, film, and architecture. German and international artists flocked to Berlin, including composers Kurt Weill and Artur Schnabel, theatrical director Max Reinhardt, writer Gerhard Hauptmann, and playwright Bertolt Brecht. When the Nazis came to power in 1933 under the leadership of German dictator Adolf Hitler, they suppressed all political activities not under Nazi control and put an end to Berlin's flourishing artistic community. Under the Nazis, Berlin became one of the world's major centers of political and military power. Hitler and his primary architect, Albert Speer, set out to transform the city through a massive rebuilding program, but they never completed their grandiose scheme. A few Nazi buildings survive, including the Olympic Stadium, site of the 1936 Olympic Games. A reminder of the brutality of the Nazi regime may be found in Berlin's northern suburb of Sachsenhausen, the site of one of the first concentration camps in Germany, which was built in 1936. The Nazis initially constructed concentration camps as centers for confining socialists, Communists, and other political enemies. Later, they were used as death camps for Jews, Slavs, homosexuals, and other "enemies of the people." In May 2005 another stark reminder of the Holocaust, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, was completed in the center of Berlin. The memorial, designed by American architect Peter Eisenman, features more than 2,700 concrete pillars and an information center that pays tribute to the millions of victims of the Nazis. D World War II When World War II began in 1939, the British and U.S. air forces made Berlin a focus of aerial bombardments because it was the political center of Germany. Street fighting between the Soviet and German armies at the war's end further damaged the city. By 1945 the war had destroyed about 60 percent of the city. The historic core and government quarter were left partially standing. About 42 percent of the city's 1.5 million houses and apartments were completely devastated, and another 31 percent were damaged. Berlin's population was reduced to about 2.8 million from a prewar high of about 4.4 million. In February 1945 the USSR, the United States, Britain, and France agreed to divide the defeated Germany into four zones of occupation. When Berlin was finally captured by Soviet troops in May 1945, it was divided into four sectors, which were jointly administered by all four nations. The Soviet sector in the eastern part of Berlin was 390 sq km (150 sq mi) in area, while the combined British, American, and French sectors in the western part of the city totaled about 480 sq km (185 sq mi) in area. Following the war, tensions developed between Communist countries led by the USSR and non-Communist countries under the leadership of the United States. The former Allies were unable to agree on terms for the political and economic reunification of Germany. The USSR regarded the four-power presence in Berlin as temporary and maintained that the city belonged to the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany. The Western powers asserted that the citizens of Berlin had the right to determine their own future through a democratically elected government. In June 1948 the Allied-occupied zones of Germany, including those in Berlin, adopted a new currency despite Soviet protests. In response, the USSR imposed a complete ban on overland traffic between Berlin and the zones of Germany controlled by the Allies. The USSR acted as though it intended to use the blockade to force the integration of the western sectors of Berlin with the Soviet-occupied part of Germany that surrounded the city. The Western powers, determined to preserve their sectors as non-Communist enclaves, responded with an airlift that supplied West Berlin with food and fuel for almost 11 months. The USSR eventually lifted the ban on overland travel in May 1949. In November 1949 the city was formally divided when the USSR established a separate administration in East Berlin. E Divided Berlin In the 1950s West Berlin was rebuilt as a showplace of Western prosperity in the heart of a Communist state. The standard of living in West Berlin rose above that of East Germany and East Berlin. In June 1953 public dissatisfaction with conditions in East Berlin erupted in demonstrations that quickly spread to the rest of East Germany. Clashes with police and attacks on state offices and food stores increased, and Soviet tanks and troops arrived to restore order. Some 260 demonstrators, 116 police, and 18 Soviet soldiers died during the fighting. The government executed at least 100 civilians and imprisoned many more after the suppression of the uprising. Between 1949 and 1961 about 2.7 million people left East Germany by way of West Berlin to take advantage of greater economic opportunities and political freedom. In 1961, in order to stop the outward flow of some of its most educated and well-trained citizens, East Germany unexpectedly constructed a barrier of barbed wire and concrete around West Berlin. Berliners woke on the morning of August 13 to discover their city had been cut in two. The East German government severed telephone links between East and West Berlin and halted any border crossing that did not have official approval from the government. All roads came to a dead-end at the wall (except for a few heavily guarded border crossings). The subway system was rerouted into two separate systems. The newly constructed Berlin Wall angered the Western Allies, but they were unwilling to risk a major international confrontation over the issue. During the period between 1961 and 1989, at least 80 East Germans were killed trying to cross over the wall into the West. F Reunited Berlin The tensions over a divided Berlin eased toward the end of the 1960s. In 1971 the United States, Britain, France, and the USSR signed an agreement that formally resolved some basic issues. Both East and West agreed to put aside some contentious issues so that they could reach agreements on more pressing concerns. In effect, the USSR conceded that West Berlin's political and economic ties with West Germany were valid. It also recognized the right of the United States, Britain, and France to station troops in the city. The Western powers agreed to accept that West Berlin was not legally a state of West Germany. In October 1989 East Germany celebrated its 40th anniversary. But even as government officials praised their accomplishments, the country was quietly slipping into revolution. Government reforms were underway in the USSR, which was no longer willing to use military force to support the Communist regime in East Germany. Peaceful demonstrations in East Germany gained support from intellectuals, church leaders, and even some Communist Party leaders, who called for major social and economic reforms. The border with West Berlin remained closed for East Germans until November 1989, when mass demonstrations throughout East Germany forced the government to allow citizens to travel freely. On November 9, 1989, as East Germany verged on collapse, a government spokesman announced during the evening news broadcast that the Berlin Wall was open. Enthusiastic citizens raced to see for themselves. In spontaneous rallies during the next week they tore down large sections of the Berlin Wall using sledgehammers, ropes, and their bare hands. Most Germans agreed that Berlin had to be reunited, but how to accomplish this task was far from clear. Between February and June 1990, the East and West German governments and the wartime Allies agreed to a plan for unification in what became known as the Two-Plus-Four talks. On October 3, 1990, East and West Germany were officially united, and Berlin became the capital of a restored German state. French, British, U.S., and Soviet troops formally left Berlin in 1994, marking the end of an occupation that had lasted nearly a half century. G Contemporary Issues Although the German people eagerly embraced reunification, the social and financial costs have been exceptionally high. In 1990 subsidies to Berlin once provided by the East and West German governments ended, forcing the city to make extensive cuts in its operating budget. Public service jobs were trimmed, and the cost of social services increased. Angry postal and construction workers went on strike. Students and teachers protested cuts in education. Large migrations into western Germany and Berlin between 1989 and 1993 by Germans and foreign asylum seekers threatened to destabilize the society. The city of Berlin has faced many challenges during its reconstruction. First among these were the costs of moving the federal government back to Berlin. Rebuilding eastern Berlin's infrastructure, including its transportation systems and municipal services, has also been a costly proposition. In addition, high unemployment among residents of both eastern and western Berlin has proved problematic. Some experts estimate that 25 years of effort will be needed to restore Berlin to its pre-1929 status. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.