West Berlin

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Basic data
Administrative headquarters: West Berlin
Flag :
Flag of Berlin.svg
Today's flag of Berlin
was also the flag of West Berlin
Coat of arms :
Coat of arms of Berlin.svg
Today's coat of arms of Berlin
was also the coat of arms of West Berlin
Area : 479.9 km²
Residents : 2,130,525 (1989)
map
West Berlin in Germany.svg
Location of West Berlin in then divided Germany

West Berlin , West Berlin and Berlin (West) were the names for the part of Greater Berlin that was administered by the three western occupying powers of the United States , United Kingdom and France from the end of World War II 1945 to 1990 and from 1950 with their approval by the Senate was ruled by Berlin .

In view of the ongoing discussion about Berlin status after the end of the war and the repeatedly changing terminology, the Senate ordered the area under its rule to be officially designated as "Berlin (West)" in 1982. Colloquially, both the western and eastern sectors of the city were often referred to simply as "Berlin" on their own side of the border .

The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 and the Constitution of Berlin from 1950 designated all of Berlin or expressly “ Greater Berlin ” as a Land of the Federal Republic of Germany from the start, but this provision did not apply . The Berlin Agreement of 1971 stated that the three western sectors were not a “ constitutive part” of the Federal Republic. In fact, however, West Berlin was a federal state of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1990; From the western, and especially from the western Allied and West German side, the "ties of Berlin (West) to the federal government" were always emphasized. For example, the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany did not apply directly in Berlin. However, all laws of the Federal Republic were adopted by the Berlin House of Representatives for Berlin by acclamation . Some of the laws and regulations such as B. the conscription law were excluded from it.

Terminology

West Berlin (Map from 1978)
Map of the divided city of Berlin

In the western part of the city as well as in the Federal Republic the official spelling was Berlin (West) . In the GDR, on the other hand, the terms special political unit (official name for documents of the Allies) or independent political unit West Berlin were used with deliberate delimitation , while Berlin, the capital of the GDR, referred to the eastern part . In times of the Cold War one could only recognize the origin or political location of a text by the different spelling.

The designation used in the GDR was intended on the one hand to represent a political demarcation of West Berlin and its particularly clear independence (from the Federal Republic of Germany ), on the other hand it should be avoided that the eastern part of the city referred to as the "capital of the GDR" would only be perceived as half of the city. For a long time the abbreviation “West Berlin” was common in the GDR.

After German reunification , the question of terminology lost its political explosiveness.

Political status

Article 1 paragraph 2 and 3 of the Berlin Constitution of September 1, 1950 read:

(2) Berlin is a state in the Federal Republic of Germany.
(3) The Basic Law and the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany are binding for Berlin.

Article 23 of the Basic Law (GG) in the version valid until the Unification Treaty named Greater Berlin in the list of countries in whose territory "this Basic Law initially applies" (until it comes into force also "in other parts of Germany").

However, due to the four-power status of Berlin, the Western Allies had not accepted this. The then Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer also played a role. Konrad Adenauer intervened in 1949 through Johann Jacob Kindt-Kiefer with the French Prime Minister Georges Bidault to prevent West Berlin from becoming a federal state. This did not give the Berlin MPs full voting rights in the Bundestag. Kindt-Kiefer witnessed a conversation between Adenauer and Bidault:

“It was about the way in which France could provide aid to Adenauer and his party. [...] Adenauer suggested that France should advocate that West Berlin should not be annexed to the Federal Republic, because otherwise there would be the risk of a social democratic preponderance in West Germany [...] "

- Johann Jacob Kindt-Kiefer

The Allied headquarters in Berlin had ordered on August 29, 1950 Art. That during the transition period Berlin none of the properties will have a twelfth country 1 para. 2 and 3 of the Berlin Constitution are reset and ". [...] Furthermore, the provisions of any federal law in Berlin only apply after it has been voted on by the House of Representatives and the same have been passed as a Berlin law. "

The constitution of September 1, 1950 therefore determined accordingly in its Article 87:

(1) Article 1 paras. 2 and 3 of the Constitution come into force as soon as the application of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany in Berlin is not subject to any restrictions.
(2) During the transitional period, the House of Representatives can establish by law that a law of the Federal Republic of Germany will also apply unchanged in Berlin.

General financial and asset issues (especially the annual subsidy from the federal budget by the “ Federal Aid”) were regulated by transitional laws (a total of six between 1950 and 1990). According to the mode laid down there, almost all other laws passed by the German Bundestag were also ratified by the House of Representatives . To this end, they contained a Berlin clause which provided for their implementation “in the state of Berlin [...] in accordance with Article 87, Paragraph 2 of the Berlin Constitution” through a law of the House of Representatives. It read: "[...] also applies in the State of Berlin in accordance with Section XY of the Z. Transitional Act."

Previously, the letter of approval from the military governors of the British, French and American zones of occupation to the Basic Law of May 12, 1949 under No. 4 said:

“We interpret the content of Articles 23 and 144 (2) of the Basic Law to mean that it represents the acceptance of our earlier request that Berlin will not receive voting membership in the Bundestag or Bundesrat and will not be governed by the Bund, but that it will may appoint a limited number of representatives to attend the meetings of these legislative bodies. "

The Soviet Union and the GDR did not recognize such regulations at all. The Western Allies, on the other hand, tolerated “special ties” and their further development, such as through regular meetings of federal organs in West Berlin, which in each case led to protests on the part of the Soviets, for example through overflights of Soviet jet fighters over West Berlin territory.

The case law of the Federal Constitutional Court stated the following:

“The Basic Law also applies in principle in Berlin; Despite the reservation of the occupying powers, Berlin is a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. "

The status of West Berlin was one of the subjects of the Four Power Agreement on Berlin .

The Berlin deputies in the Bundestag only had advisory voting rights ; Moreover, they were not directly elected by the people, but determined indirectly by the House of Representatives ( Article 144, Paragraph 2, Basic Law). The four Berlin representatives in the Bundesrat only had an advisory vote. In contrast, the representatives of Berlin at the Federal Assembly were always entitled to vote; the western allies had not announced any reservation. The (West) Berlin MPs were entitled to vote in all three committees and their votes were included in the official election results. However, this did not apply to tight votes, if the slight preponderance was only due to the Berlin votes: In this case, the constitutional provisions on majorities in these bodies applied. The reason for the exception was that the Federal Assembly was not about laws, but about an election, which is why the Berlin votes were also fully taken into account.

In East Berlin , too, there were initially such peculiarities due to the four-power status. From 1949 to 1971, the East Berlin members of the People's Chamber of the GDR were not directly elected and were not entitled to vote. Unlike in West Berlin, however, these peculiarities were gradually dismantled and from 1961 East Berlin was treated as a district of the GDR. The interpretation of the status of Berlin and its parts under international law was disputed between East and West ( see: Berlin question ).

In some areas, such as the West Berlin commercial airports, the purchase and possession of firearms and the land used by the Western Allies, even the Governing Mayor was not directly authorized to issue instructions to the relevant offices of the Berlin administration , since these areas were primarily from the Western Allies, in general also called protective powers , were monitored.

particularities

100 DM note with "Bärenmark" stamp

From the currency reform of 1948 (June 20, 1948) on, the Deutsche Mark of the West German Bank of German Lands was also the currency in West Berlin , with some restrictions . This ultimately led to the Berlin blockade . The banknotes introduced in West Berlin bore a B stamp (“B” for Berlin) or a corresponding perforation, called bear mark ; the east side countered with the fact that on June 23, 1948 a value sticker (half the size of a postage stamp) was affixed to the old Reichsmark notes ("Tapetenmark"). With the introduction of new banknotes in East Germany (including East Berlin) on July 24, 1948, the special markings were omitted on both sides. Since traffic and shopping were still unhindered in the two halves of the city at that time, there was some confusion when shopping in the months of June and July 1948. In the city there were three differently labeled banknotes with basically the same value, but in West Berlin the acceptance of the "adhesive mark" was very soon refused because their different value was foreseeable due to the economic development in the two German states.

One of the special features was the Berlin makeshift identity card , which differed from the one issued in West Germany (green cover instead of gray) and contained no reference to the issuing state, but contained the note “The holder of this identity card is a German citizen ”; in addition, “ The Police President in Berlin ” was named as the issuing authority . The note regarding nationality was sometimes overstamped when crossing the border in Eastern Bloc countries and provided with the sentence “The holder of this ID is a citizen with permanent residence in West Berlin”. The official designation "makeshift identity card" without the indication "Federal Republic of Germany" and without the federal eagle was retained for the machine-readable identity card in card form, which was introduced in 1987 in an otherwise comparable form. The passports issued in West Berlin, on the other hand, were similar to the passports issued in West Germany and were labeled "Federal Republic of Germany". Formally, they were not issued by the Berlin authorities, but by a Berlin-based branch of the Federal Ministry of the Interior . For trips to Eastern Bloc countries and transit trips through the GDR , this passport was not recognized because of the issuing authority based in West Berlin, so the Berlin (“makeshift”) identity card had to be presented. Many West Berliners circumvented this problem by registering with a second home in West Germany (often fictitious, for example with relatives or friends) and having their passports issued there. These people often had three "travel documents" (GDR parlance): the makeshift identity card, the Berlin passport and the unsuspicious normal federal passport, which were used depending on the opportunity .

There was no German Bundeswehr presence in the city and there was no conscription . The criminal provisions of the Criminal Code on crimes against national defense did not apply in West Berlin. When, after 1990, the former West German conscription law also applied in Berlin, some birth cohorts were recorded retrospectively (→  white cohorts ). When the Western Allies considered the presence of the National People's Army of the GDR in East Berlin, which contradicted their four-power status , they reacted with regular diplomatic protest notes.

The trigger for the Berlin crisis that began in 1958 was the Khrushchev ultimatum , in which the Soviet Union demanded, among other things, that West Berlin be converted into an "independent political unit", namely a so-called Free City , which was supposed to be demilitarized of the troops of the Western Allies from West Berlin.

Another special feature was the establishment of its own postal administration (Landespostdirektion Berlin), which was separate from the Deutsche Bundespost and, among other things, issued its own postage stamps with the name " Deutsche Bundespost Berlin ". In fact, this separation was only nominal, since the two postal administrations were in fact integrated. The West Berlin stamps were accordingly valid in West Germany and vice versa.

Also nominally separated were the Berlin subsidiaries of the then three major German banks Deutsche Bank (in Berlin: Berliner Disconto Bank, later: Deutsche Bank Berlin), Commerzbank (in Berlin: Berliner Commerzbank) and Dresdner Bank (in Berlin: Bank for trade and industry ) . The names are partly derived from former subsidiaries or takeovers. The reason for this lay in the Allied measures in the post-war period to break up the banks into small independent companies. After the end of the occupation era in the Federal Republic of Germany, this separation was only maintained in West Berlin beyond the 1950s.

The four occupying powers shared air sovereignty over the whole of Berlin. The Allied air control authority based in Schöneberg monitored the Berlin airspace . The airspace was only allowed to be flown through by aircraft of the four victorious powers. Domestic and international air traffic in West Berlin was therefore handled through the three air corridors via West Germany by British, French and American airlines. Pan Am , British Airways and Air France had the largest share , but also other companies registered in these countries as well as some with a majority of German participation and only nominal registration in a country of the Western powers such as Euroberlin France and Air Berlin USA . In addition, the German authorities and private individuals were prohibited from air traffic in Berlin.

The German Weather Service was not responsible for the weather service , but the Institute for Meteorology at the Free University of Berlin .

It is also noteworthy that until German reunification, in accordance with the relevant Control Council laws in West Berlin , the death penalty could have been formally imposed under Allied law for unauthorized possession of weapons .

The Berlin Olympic Stadium was a venue for the 1974 World Cup , but not the 1988 European Football Championship , because the Eastern European associations positioned themselves against West Berlin as the venue. Under public pressure, the German Football Association then made the compensatory decision to have the DFB Cup final take place permanently in Berlin. Until 1984, the venues were based on the club locations of the finalists and therefore changed.

Travel restrictions

Residents of West Berlin could travel to western countries at all times . The passports of the Federal Republic of Germany issued in West Berlin were recognized there as well as the makeshift identity cards for the German residents of the three western sectors of Berlin (provided that the identity card was sufficient for entry also for West Germans). Passing through the Soviet occupation zone or the GDR was also possible at all times , with the exception of the time of the Berlin blockade by the Soviet Union from June 24, 1948 to May 12, 1949.

The possibilities to visit East Berlin, the GDR and Eastern European countries changed several times over the years: Until 1953 the regulations of the interzonal traffic applied (see there) . As early as May 1952, West Berliners were basically not allowed to visit the GDR; they could apply for an entry permit, but this was rarely granted in practice. At this point in time, the first roadblocks, later border crossings , were set up on the West Berlin external border. The eastern part of the city remained almost unhindered for the time being. The freedom of movement therefore ended at the outer city limits, which at that time were also controlled in the eastern part.

Kennedy's speech “ I am a Berliner ” on a grandstand in front of Schöneberg Town Hall , 1963

After the Wall was built in 1961, West Berliners were completely denied access to East Berlin. In contrast, West German and Western foreigners could continue to enter East Berlin for short visits without having to apply for a visa if they presented a passport . The situation changed for the first time in 1963, when, after complicated negotiations between the West Berlin Senate and the GDR, a temporary permit agreement made it possible to visit families in the eastern part of the city over Christmas and New Year. Other equally time-limited pass regulations followed in 1964, 1965 and 1966.

The situation only changed fundamentally with the Four Power Agreement in 1971, as a result of which the certificate of eligibility to receive a visa from the GDR enabled West Berliners to enter East Berlin or the GDR. Since then these have roughly corresponded to the simplified regulations of the " small border traffic " between the Federal Republic and the GDR, but unlike this one, West Berliners were able to enter the entire GDR. Since then, the GDR has operated five "offices for visiting and travel matters" (operated by the Ministry for State Security ) on West Berlin soil, in which entry applications were submitted and authorization certificates for visas were usually issued after three days. With this visa, West Berliners were allowed to stay in the GDR and East Berlin until 2 a.m. the following day, while West German citizens had to be back at the border crossing by midnight at the latest. West Berliners also did not have to pay a visa fee of DM 5. West Berliners were now at a disadvantage compared to West Germans for visiting East Berlin only through the required prior visa application, but enjoyed advantages for visiting the rest of the GDR.

Checkpoint Bravo at the crossing of the transit route from West Germany to West Berlin, 1987

As a travel document for West Berliners, the GDR - like the other Comecon countries - only recognized the makeshift identity card described above . The passports of the Federal Republic issued in West Berlin were not valid. Such passports were recognizable for their authorities by the place of residence entry "Berlin". With this practice, the authorities of these states wanted to document the fact that West Berlin was “not part of the Federal Republic”.

On December 24, 1989, there was no visa requirement and minimum exchange for West Berliners and German citizens in accordance with the agreements previously negotiated between Helmut Kohl and Hans Modrow . Since then, it has been sufficient to present an identity card to enter East Berlin or the GDR. While “counting cards” were initially required to be filled out for each visit, this requirement also dropped on January 24, 1990. The controls became increasingly random in the months that followed. All border controls in the GDR were canceled on June 30, 1990, the day before the monetary, economic and social union between the Federal Republic and the GDR.

Population development

West Berlin had its highest population in 1957 with 2.23 million. The lowest population was recorded in 1984 at 1.85 million. The increase of 133,484 people between December 1986 and May 1987 was due to errors in the update of the State Statistical Office. The reason was the long period since the last census in 1970, which generally serves as the basis for the update results of the Federal Statistical Office and the State Statistical Offices . For May 24, 1987, a population of 1,881,059 was calculated for West Berlin, which was 7.1 percent below the result of the census (2,012,709 inhabitants) of May 25, 1987. One of the reasons for this was the relocation of residence to West Germany until 1971, which was only carried out formally with the aim of obtaining a West German passport that could be used to travel to the GDR (see section on travel restrictions ).

The population figures in the following table contain census results (*) or official updates from the Berlin State Statistical Office.

date Residents
October 29, 1946 * 1,996,250
September 13, 1950 * 2,146,952
September 25, 1956 * 2,223,777
December 31, 1957 2,228,545
0June 6, 1961 * 2,197,408
December 31, 1965 2,197,262
May 27, 1970 * 2,122,346
date Residents
December 31, 1975 1,984,837
December 31, 1980 1,896,230
December 31, 1984 1,848,585
December 31, 1985 1,860,084
December 31, 1986 1,879,225
May 25, 1987 * 2,012,709
December 31, 1989 2,130,525

*) Census result

Districts

Districts of West Berlin, West Staaken is incorrectly colored
The four sectors of Berlin

With 481 square kilometers, West Berlin was a little more than half the size of today's state of Berlin. It was divided into three sectors , each subordinate to one of the western allies:

List of districts of West Berlin
Name of the district District
coat of arms
Area (km²) Residents Sector / Competent State Districts Former delivery district Other locations and districts
Charlottenburg district Coat of arms de-be charlottenburg 1957.png 30.3 147.258 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Kreuzberg district Coat of arms de-be kreuzberg 1956.png 10.4 128,790 Flag of the United States.svg United States of America
Neukölln district Coat of arms of borough Neukoelln.svg 44.9 273.174 Flag of the United States.svg United States of America
  • 44, Neukölln
  • 47, Britz, Buckow, Rudow
Reinickendorf district Coat of arms of borough Reinickendorf.svg 89.3 229.193 Flag of France.svg French Republic
  • 26, Wittenau
  • 27, Heiligensee, Konradshöhe, Tegel
  • 28, Frohnau, Hermsdorf, Lübars, Waidmannslust
  • 51, Reinickendorf-Ost
  • 52, Reinickendorf-West
Schöneberg district Coat of arms de-be schoeneberg 1956.png 12.2 136,900 Flag of the United States.svg United States of America
  • 30, Schöneberg-Nord
  • 41, Friedenau
  • 62, Schöneberg
Spandau district Coat of arms of borough Spandau.svg 86.4 192.186 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  • 13, Siemensstadt
  • 20, Spandau, Staaken (see left)
  • 22, Gatow, Kladow
Steglitz district Coat of arms de-be steglitz 1956.png 32.0 166.207 Flag of the United States.svg United States of America
  • 41, Steglitz
  • 45, Lichterfelde
  • 46, Lankwitz
Tempelhof district Coat of arms de-be tempelhof 1957.png 40.7 160,773 Flag of the United States.svg United States of America
  • 42, Tempelhof, Mariendorf
  • 48, Marienfelde
  • 49, Lichtenrade
Tiergarten district Coat of arms de-be tiergarten 1955.png 13.4 71,834 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Wedding district Coat of arms de-be wedding 1955.png 15.4 135.011 Flag of France.svg French Republic
  • 65, Wedding
Wilmersdorf district Coat of arms de-be wilmersdorf 1955.png 34.3 130.103 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  • 15, Wilmersdorf-Nord
  • 31, Wilmersdorf-Süd
  • 33, Grunewald
Zehlendorf district Coat of arms de-be zehlendorf 1956.png 70.6 83.123 Flag of the United States.svg United States of America
  • 33, Dahlem
  • 37, Zehlendorf
  • 38, Nikolassee
  • 39, Wannsee

Exclaves and enclaves

Until 1988 West Berlin had several exclaves that were surrounded by GDR territory. The exclaves were created when Greater Berlin was formed in 1920, the city limits of which took over the complicated boundary conditions of the incorporated rural communities. All Berlin exclaves belonged to the districts of Spandau or Zehlendorf, thus after 1945 to the British or American sector, and so since the division of the city into West Berlin, which caused problems after the founding of the GDR in 1949 and increasingly after the building of the Wall in 1961.

According to the Four Power Agreement, the exclaves were incorporated into the western part of Berlin in several steps through the exchange of territories (together with other corrections of unfavorable borders, for example at the Lenné triangle in Mitte ) or given to the GDR. The best known example was Steinstücke , as this was the only permanently inhabited exclave. Until a connection road to West Berlin was built, some of the population there was supplied with helicopters from the US Army .

Exclaves that belonged to the urban area of ​​West Berlin

Surname district use surface Status changes
Falkenhagener Wiese Spandau district 45.44  hectares 1988 to the GDR, 1990 to Brandenburg
Desert mark former district of Zehlendorf Arable land 21.83 hectares 1988 to the GDR, 1990 to Brandenburg
Lasszinswiesen Spandau district 13.49 hectares 1988 to the GDR, 1990 to Brandenburg
Pieces of stone former district of Zehlendorf Location 12.67 hectares 1971 Berlin through a corridor connected
Big cow sheet Spandau district 08.03 ha 1971 to the GDR, 1990 to Brandenburg
Nuthew Meadows former district of Zehlendorf Wetland 03.64 hectares 1971 to the GDR, 1990 to Brandenburg
Spruce meadow Spandau district Weekend settlement 03.51 ha 1988 associated with Berlin
Finkenkruger way Spandau district 03.45 ha 1971 to the GDR, 1990 to Brandenburg
Alder Ground Spandau district Weekend settlement 00.51 ha 1988 associated with Berlin
Böttcherberg former district of Zehlendorf three separate areas in Potsdam - Klein Glienicke 00.30 ha 1971 to the GDR, 1990 to Brandenburg

On December 20, 1971, as part of the first such exchange of territory, the exclave Nuthewiesen, which had previously been owned by West Berlin, was surrendered to the GDR, while in return the federal government provided a corridor access from Kohlhasenbrück (Zehlendorf) to the exclave Steinstücke was incorporated into the West Berlin area. The last exclaves were given to the GDR in 1988 or, as in the case of Fichtewiese and Erlengrund , were given permanent access to West Berlin.

Enclaves that belonged to the GDR or were claimed by the GDR

While the (unused) GDR enclaves in the Eiskeller were still marked on all official maps and many city maps as an extra- territorial area from the perspective of West Berlin until the final border adjustment in 1988 , this was not the case for the Tiefwerder Wiesen (a weekend settlement area used by West Berliners) to. Although the GDR tried in the area exchange negotiations to bring part of the Tiefwerder Wiesen on their credit side, the British, in whose sector the area was located, rejected a claim to sovereignty by the GDR. The status as an enclave of the municipality of Seeburg was recognized insofar as the British already in the 1960s instructed West Berlin authorities to ensure security and order, but not to officially work in the area. The unclear status was tacitly resolved in a protocol note on the last territory swap agreements in 1988. Both sides declared that since then they have no longer had any exclaves in the other territory.

Areas under Soviet or later GDR administration

Cultural and historical significance

The center of West Berlin was the Kurfürstendamm and the surrounding streets and squares near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

Since the German reunification , the term “old West Berlin” has been used. It is intended to point out the special situation and mood in West Berlin during the times of the Berlin Wall . West Berlin represented an island in the middle of the GDR and was sometimes also called the “island in the red sea”, based on the color red, which stands for socialism and communism .

While the GDR government had promoted East Berlin as the center of its power and, compared to the rest of the GDR, financially and in terms of supply, around half of the West Berlin budget was financed from the federal budget, since West Berlin was promoted as a flagship of the West has been.

Social life in the walled city was concentrated around Kurfürstendamm . It was the center of cultural ventures. Since many of Berlin's cultural sites were in the political east and were de facto cut off from the west of the city, many new institutions opened during the division that were intended to provide a replacement, such as the Kulturforum in Tiergarten, which is a response to the Museum Island, which is also to the east should. With the Deutsche Oper , West Berlin received its own modern opera house, which is still relevant today with the State Opera Unter den Linden . The Europa Center in 1963 was the tallest skyscraper in Germany and should by analogy to established shortly after the time of its completion Ko-Center in Dusseldorf and Bonn center in Bonn membership of West Berlin to the Federal Republic and the Western world stress.

West Berlin was one of the “emigration destinations” of West German youth and a destination for military service refugees . To do this, the man had to move his main residence to Berlin in good time before the draft notice of the Bundeswehr was received , ie swap the West German ID card for a Berlin ID card - officially "makeshift ID card". In order to compensate young talents and (tax-paying) employees for the circumstances in the walled city, Berlin employees were granted a Berlin allowance of eight percent on their gross salary . This allowance was gradually phased out after 1990.

In the 1970s, the area around Schöneberger Nollendorfplatz and Motzstraße , the Nollendorfkiez , developed again into a lesbian and gay district , a district with a large cultural offering and infrastructure for queer people. The neighborhood was before the Second World War, a popular residential and nightlife area in LGBT been until the Nazis gay visibility in the quarter had finished forcibly . A plaque at the entrance to the Nollendorfplatz underground station today reminds of the fate of the former residents and visitors to the quarter. In 1977, Germany's first openly gay bar of the post-war period opened here on the other bank . A few years earlier, Romy Haag had opened the Chez Romy in the rooms of the former Eldorado in connection with the cabaret scene of the Weimar Republic , where David Bowie , who lived and worked in the area at the time and had a relationship with Haag during this time, frequented led. In those years Bowie produced the albums of his Berlin trilogy.

Since the political turnaround, the importance of the City-West (New West) decreased, cinemas became branches of fashion house chains, small boutiques and other small shops had to give way to branches of larger chains. This is mainly due to the strengthening of the old Berlin center around Friedrichstrasse and Unter den Linden . Prophecies of doom , which prophesied a complete decline of the Kurfürstendamm, have not been confirmed. The city structure of Berlin, which has always been decentralized, with several main business centers, but also the fact that Potsdamer Platz is more popular with tourists than with Berliners themselves, preserves the attractiveness of Kurfürstendamm.

See also

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: West Berlin  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : West Berlin  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

General

Documents

Web links to the Berlin exclaves

Remarks

  1. ^ According to the political claim of the Berlin Constitution of September 1, 1950 , the Senate's jurisdiction even affected Greater Berlin. However, this failed due to Allied reservations .
  2. Circular I No. 120/1982 of the Senator for the Interior of November 24, 1982 regarding the designation of Berlin and its position on the federal government
  3. ↑ On this, Gero Pfennig / Manfred J. Neumann (ed.): Constitution of Berlin. Commentary , 3rd edition 2000, Art. 1, Rn 4 ; Art. 4, Rn 3 f.
  4. Art. 23 GG a. F.
  5. ^ Press service of the Federal Government: Korrespondenz-Spiegel , Schnell-Information from July 21, 1959, quoted in u. a. on November 5, 1959 in a speech by Erich Mende in the Bundestag . Printed in: Rudolf Jungnicket: Kabale am Rhein; The chancellor and his monsignor . Wartburg Verlag, Weimar 1994, p. 100 f.
  6. The state of Baden-Württemberg consisted of three states until 1953 , and the Saarland only became part of the Federal Republic in 1957, so that in 1950 it actually consisted of eleven states.
  7. ^ Constitution of Berlin of September 1, 1950, including the letter of approval from the Allied Commandantura Berlin
  8. letter of approval of the military governors of the British, French and American occupation zone to the Basic Law of 12 May 1949 , the original English version cited in BVerfGE 1, 70 (1 BvR 24/51 of 25 October 1951): We interpret the effect of Articles 23 and 144 ( 2) of the Basic Law as constituting acceptance of our previous request that while Berlin may not be accorded voting membership in the Bundestag or Bundesrat nor be governed by the Federation she may, nevertheless, designate a small number of representatives to the meetings of those legislative bodies .
  9. BVerfGE 19, 377 - Berlin reservation II
  10. Wolfgang Malanowski: Contemporary history: "Bärenmark, Tapetenmark" . In: Spiegel Special 2/1998, February 1, 1998.
  11. Ordinance No. 511 of the Allied Command on criminal acts against the interests of the occupying powers of October 15, 1951.
  12. Cut and stab . In: Der Spiegel . No. 19 , 1984 ( online ).
  13. An endgame as compensation? Cup final Berlin, European Championship final 1988 without Berlin. In: Der Tagesspiegel . April 30, 2006, accessed May 20, 2020 .
  14. Finally, in the Four Power Agreement on Berlin of September 3, 1971, the Soviet government “declared that the transit traffic of civilian people and goods between the western sectors of Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany on roads, railways and waterways through the territory of the German Democrats Republic without disabilities will be [...]. "
  15. The outer ring ( Memento from June 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ↑ Pass Agreement , Living Museum Online
  17. See also the letter from the Three Powers to lift their reservations regarding the direct election of Berlin representatives to the Bundestag and their full voting rights in the Bundestag and the Bundesrat of June 8, 1990 .
  18. Chronicle of the Turning December 24, 1989
  19. Chronicle of the Turning January 24, 1990
  20. Education in Berlin and Brandenburg 2008 , p. 357, keywords: Population forecast, population forecast, Berlin (PDF; 2.3 MB) Office for Statistics Berlin-Brandenburg and Institute for School Quality of the States Berlin and Brandenburg.
  21. Sources: Information in corresponding articles on the Berlin districts and districts as well as Harms Berliner Grundschulatlas, Berlin 1987, p. 26 (as of December 31, 1983)
  22. Status: December 31, 1983, source: Harms Berliner Grundschulatlas, Berlin 1987, p. 26
  23. after Harms Berliner Grundschulatlas, Berlin 1987, p. 27
  24. Telephone number starting digits and postcodes up to 1993 in Berlin (West) , see also postal history and postage stamps of Berlin # Post offices in Berlin (West)