If ever you have heard about a city called Berlin, you might be curious as to where belongs West Berlin. West Berlin has a very interesting pre and post Cold War history and it is very important to analyze its geography in order to place the understanding of the whole story of Germany in context. In this post, you will follow almost a virtual tour, to find out about where in the world West Berlin is, and why it matters.
1. The Division of Berlin
In the aftermath of World War II, Berlin was divided into four occupation zones, each controlled by the victorious Allied forces: the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France. Some of these were known as East Berlin while the other three formed the West Berlin.
2. In East Germany, there is or was an offshore island – Isolated Island.
Although by constitutional status West Berlin was a part of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), it was completely enclosed by the territory of the GDR (German Democratic Republic). It made out of West Berlin the ‘curiosity’ of an island in a camp all to its own and surrounded by the Eastern Bloc.
2.1 The Berlin Wall
It is worth to mention the most famous symbol of this division: especially the Berlin Wall, which the GDR has built in August 1961. This barrier formed a ring around West Berlin and ran for about 155kilometres (96miles) of circumference. That wall was an effort to stop East Berliner from fleeing to the Western democracy thus signifying the division between communism and capitalist.
3. Access and Transportation
That is why during its existence, West Berlin faced certain issues, namely, the problems of approach and connection. Except for direct flights or waterways, the GDR had control over any means of overland connection between the western part of the city of Berlin and rest of West Germany; as such, the use of ‘border crossing’ routes had to be used more literally than in other contexts.
3.1 Air Access
For this purpose of continuing to communicate with the rest of the world, modes of air travel featured as critical. The three principle airports in West Berlin were Tempelhof, Gatow, and Tegel, through which the vast majority of airlines operating the Western section of the city were West German.
3.2 Rail and Road Access
In later years, negotiations were made between the GDR and West Germany known as the Compacts and established several railway, and road access to West Berlin. The so called “Transitstrecken” were made in order to organize connections between West Germany and West te Berlin through the territory of the GDR. These transit routes were always heavily policed to allow for free movement of people along these routes.
4. The Four-Power Status
Independently for West Berlin, it was still a special administrative unit directly governed by the four occupying powers even though geographically it was deep inside East Germany. The presence of these forces made its political status different from that of the East and West German countries .
5. The Fall of the Berlin Wall
The symbolic division of the city of Berlin could be brought to its final collapse on the 9th November 1989 when the Berlin Wall was pulled down. The event eventually culminated in the reunification of Germany in 1990 putting an end to the unique state of West Berlin.
Conclusion
West Berlin, an isolated place amidst East Germany during the Cold War represented global struggle between communism and democracy. It was physically strategically located forming complexity but it ultimately became a symbol of liberty and defiance. It is important thus to look into the historical and geographical background of West Berlin to be able to more fully capture the story of the German city in the Cold War.
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