East Berlin
|  | Boroughs of East Berlin |
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 | Occupied Berlin |
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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 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."
At the time of
German reunification, East Berlin comprised the
boroughs of
*
Friedrichshain*
Hellersdorf*
Hohenschönhausen*
Köpenick*
Lichtenberg*
Marzahn*
Mitte*
Pankow*
Prenzlauer Berg*
Treptow*
WeißenseeOn
October 3,
1990 West Germany and
East Germany were united, thus formally ending the existence of East Berlin.
Since reunification, the German government has spent vast amounts of money on reintegrating the two halves of the city and bringing services and infrastructure in the former East Berlin up the standard established in West Berlin. Despite this, there are still obvious differences between eastern and western Berlin. East Berlin has a distinctly different visual aspect, partly because of the greater survival of prewar facades and streetscapes, many still showing signs of wartime damage, and partly because of the distinctive style of urban architecture used in the GDR. As in other former
East German cities, a small number of GDR-era names commemorating socialist heroes have been preserved, such as
Karl-Marx-Allee,
Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz and
Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse; this followed a long process of review in which most such street names were deemed inappropriate and were changed.
Image:PICT4196.JPG|Typical East Berlin streetscape, Karl-Liebknecht-StrasseImage:PICT4247.JPG|Wall plaque of Lenin, off WilhelmstrasseImage:PICT4206.JPG|Gründerzeit facade showing typical dilapidation prior to renovation, Prenzlauer BergImage:PICT4261.JPG|GDR-era mural of Meissen porcelain on former Council of Ministers building, facing Leipziger Strasse Image:PICT4566.JPG|The Soviet War Memorial in Treptower ParkImage:PICT4508.JPG|The LustgartenImage:PICT4057.JPG|The Palace of the Republic, being dismantledImage:PICT4556.JPG|New Synagogue, Oranienburger StrasseImage:PICT4498.JPG|War-damaged stonework, Museum IslandImage:PICT4204.JPG|People's Theatre under restoration, Rosa-Luxemburg-PlatzImage:PICT4238.JPG|Late-1980s GDR apartment blocks on the Wilhelmstrasse Image:PICT4198.JPG|Memorial to the International BrigadesImage:PICT4203.JPG|Karl-Liebknecht-Haus, prewar KPD officesImage:PICT4039.JPG|Proletarian hero, AlexanderplatzImage:PICT4313.JPG|Statues of Marx and Engels, Alexanderplatz*
Berlin*
Bonn*
East Germany*
Germany*
History of Germany since 1945*
West Berlin*
West Germany*
Berlin Photos 1989-1999
