East Berlin

File:Flag East Berlin.gif Flag of East Berlin

Boroughs of East Berlin

Occupied Berlin

East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a de facto part of West Germany.

Despite its status as part of an occupied city, East Berlin was claimed as the capital of East Germany. From August 13, 1961 until November 9, 1989 it was separated from West Berlin by the Berlin Wall. The official East German lexicon referred to East Berlin as just "Berlin" or often "Berlin, Hauptstadt der DDR" (Berlin, capital of the GDR). The term "Democratic Sector" was also used until the early - mid 1960s.

The Western Allies (the USA, Great Britain and France) never formally acknowledged the authority of the East German government to govern East Berlin; the official Allied protocol recognized only the authority of the Soviet Union in East Berlin in accordance with the occupation status of Berlin as a whole. In fact, the three Western commandants regularly protested the presence of the East German National People's Army in East Berlin, particularly on the occasion of military parades. Nevertheless, the three Western Allies eventually established embassies in East Berlin in the 1970s, although they never recognized it as East Germany's capital. Treaties instead used terms such as "seat of government."

East Berlin comprised the boroughs of

• Friedrichshain
• Hellersdorf
• Hohenschönhausen
• Köpenick
• Lichtenberg
• Marzahn
• Mitte
• Pankow
• Prenzlauer Berg
• Treptow
• Weißensee

On October 3, 1990 West Germany and East Germany were united, thus formally ending the existence of East Berlin.

See also

• Berlin
• Bonn
• East Germany
• Germany
• History of Germany since 1945
• West Berlin
• West Germany

External links

• Berlin Photos 1989-1999