Berlin
Historical Background

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Berlin is in good shape - and that's despite, not because, of its 800-year long history.

Back in 1300, the two neighboring trading towns of Berlin and Coelln joined forces centering in the district now called Mitte (meaning "center"). All but destroyed by the Thirty Years War, the young city soon invited in its first batch of immigrants to make up for the loss in population: French Protestants, persecuted in their home country and looking for religious freedom were a welcome addition to Berlin's workforce. Their influence can be seen today in the area around the Französischer Dom (French Cathedral) or in the Berlin dialect, speakers of which still call a sidewalk a trottoir.

It then fell on the Prussian "Soldier King," Frederick William I, to develop the city. In 1709, he made Berlin the capital, and his son, Frederick the Great, strengthened Prussia's role as a major player in Europe. At this time, the Prussian court was a cradle of enlightenment, frequently visited by the philosopher Voltaire. The King's appreciation of the humanities paved the way for a new era of classicist architecture, and fantastic buildings such as the ornate Konzerthaus and the imposing Altes Museum were erected. Berlin's love affair with the arts is reflected in the fact that the city still boasts three opera houses - the Deutsche Oper, Staatsoper, and Komische Oper.

The Napoleonic occupation of Berlin in 1806 was met with fervent patriotism and produced a powerful liberal reform movement. However, the bourgeois revolution of 1848 was short-lived, and William I became emperor of the Second German Reich in 1871, with Berlin as its capital.

Berlin boomed during the Founding Years at the end of the 19th century. Industrial giant Siemens built a modern underground system capable of transporting hundreds of thousands of people every day. Scientists such as Robert Koch led the world in research and development, while artists like Gerhard Hauptmann and Wassily Kandinsky paved new ground in the arts.

All this was cut short by the First World War. After the war, Berlin became the focus of the failed 1918/19 revolution and went on to become the capital of Germany's first fragile democracy, the Weimar Republic, in the 1920s. The city assumed the status of a glamorous arts and entertainment center, while at the same time being an industrial powerhouse. At the time, artists such as Brecht, Gropius and Feininger forged a legacy that left a lasting impression throughout Europe.

Berlin remained the capital of Germany during the Nazi era. Hitler even envisioned the city as "Germania," the capital of a global empire, and began to leave his megalomaniac mark on the architecture and the infrastructure of the city. Berliners suffered under Nazi rule, especially the persecuted left-wing movements and, of course, the large Jewish community. More than 60,000 Berlin Jews, nearly half of the city's population, died in the Holocaust. Thousands more fled the country. Jewish cultural life has only recently known a revival (in the Scheuenviertel).

At the end of World War II, Berlin was reduced to little more than a pile of rubble, its population halved. The Potsdam Agreement divided the city into four sectors, each of which was ruled by one of the Allies - the USA, the USSR, Britain and France. All too soon Berlin became the focus and symbol of Cold War animosities (and the preferred location for spy movies). While the German Democratic Republic proclaimed East Berlin its capital, the three western sectors remained under Allied supervision until 1990. On both sides of the Wall — erected in 1961 to stop East Berliners from fleeing, Berlin continued to spearhead reform movements, such as the peace movement in the West and opposition to the one-party regime in the East. Thirty five years later, during his 1998 visit to Berlin, US President Clinton would make a point of echoing John F. Kennedy's famous words, "Ich bin ein Berliner" ("I am a Berliner").

The fall of the Wall in 1989 wasn't entirely unexpected. Level-headed politicians on both sides of the Iron Curtain had been working towards a cautious reconciliation since the early 1970s, but few expected the Wall to fall overnight. An entire generation had grown up knowing Berlin only as a divided city.

Nowadays, Berlin is once again the capital of a democratic state, yet unification is very much a work in progress.