History of Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of reunited Germany. Berlin is a young city by European standards, founded in the 13th century.
Origin
In 98 Tacitus described the territory of Germania. What is now Berlin, in ancient times was well outside the frontiers of the Roman Empire. Germanic tribes then inhabited the region. During the post-Roman Migration Period, they departed for other lands, probably to become part of the new ruling class in the invaded areas of the western Roman Empire.
Slavic East Germany
Starting in the 6th century Slavic peoples from the east settled in the vacated area between the Elbe and Oder rivers.
About 720 two Slavic tribes settled in the Berlin region. The Heveller (Slavic: Havolane) settled on the river Havel with their central settlement in Brennabor, which later has become the town of Brandenburg. Close to the river Spree in today's borough of Berlin Köpenick the Sprewanen (Slavic: Sprevjane) settled.
About 750 the Havolane founded Spandow (today's Spandau) on the river Havel. This seems to be the closest settlement to the area which is today known as Berlin.
Around 825 Spandau and Köpenick were protected with barriers. They were the major settlements and later towns in the area until the early 11th century.
In the early 9th century local Slavic tribes founded Berlin under a name which is recorded in a Latin document as "Berolina". The name may mean "a dam on a river". It was a small town with a stockade round, on a trade route linking southern Europe with the Baltic Sea.
In 948 Emperor Otto I the Great established German control over the now largely Slavic inhabitants of the area and founded the dioceses of Havelberg and Brandenburg. He died in 983.
In the great uprising in 983 the Slavs wiped out German control from the territory of present day Brandenburg. The monasteries were burned, priests and German officials killed or expelled. The Slavic tribes living east of Elbe remained independent and pagan for the next 150 years.
The Germans return
In the beginning of the 12th century the Saxon German kings and emperors conquered the Slavic-inhabited lands of present-day Brandenburg. The Slavic inhabitants of the area were either driven out, or became subject to German feudal lords. Many Slavic inhabitants survived the conquests and live there still today - Sorbs, Lusatians. The church brought bishoprics, which with their walled towns, afforded protection for the townspeople from attack. With the monks and bishops, the history of the town of Brandenburg, which in time became the state of Brandenburg, began.
In 1134, after this German crusade against the Wends, the German magnate Albert the Bear was granted the Northern March by the Holy Roman Emperor Lothar II. For some time up until the 15th century, some part of the area that would become Brandenburg was inhabited by the Slavic Wends, whose descendants still make up a part of the area's modern population.
Albert's control of the region was nominal for several decades, but he engaged in a variety of campaigns against the Wends, as well as more diplomatic efforts which saw his control become more real by the middle of the 12th century.
In 1150, he formally inherited berlin from its last Wendish king, Pribislav. sam, and his descendants the Ascanians, then made considerable progress in Christianizing and cultivating the lands. There was never any distinction made by any of the German rulers, and the Slavic and German tribes intermarried.
- For the history of the Brandenburg area from here on, see Brandenburg#History.
Berlin and Cölln
Throughout these events, the area of today's Berlin contained small fishing and farming villages.
Around 1200, two towns were founded on the banks of the river Spree: Cölln and Berlin. Berlin used the name of the existing Slavic village (br'l which means "swamp"). Cölln may have been a new foundation, since its name (like Köln) represents Latin colonia = "colony".
Cölln is first mentioned in documents on 28 October 1237, Berlin in 1244.
The first mention of city rights for Berlin is in 1251 and for Cölln in 1261, showing that they received those rights then or earlier.
In 1307 Berlin and Cölln formed a trading union on political and security matters, and participated in the Hanse. Their urban development took place in parallel for 400 years.
Around 1400 Berlin and Cölln had 8,000 inhabitants.
Not much is left of these ancient communities, although some remainders can be seen in the Nikolaiviertel near the Rotes Rathaus, and the Klosterkirche, close to today's Alexanderplatz. Unfortunately, the great town center fire of 1830 damaged most written records of those early years.
Mark Brandenburg
In 1417 Friedrich I of Brandenburg became Kurfürst of Brandenburg. Until 1918 members of the Hohenzollern family ruled Berlin, successively as Margraves of Brandenburg, Kings of Prussia, and Emperors of Germany. Berlin's people were not enthusiastic about this change. In 1447 they revolted unsuccessfully against the monarch, losing many of their political and economic liberties.
When Berlin became the residence of the Hohenzollerns, it had to give up its Hanseatic League free city status. Its main economical activity changed from trade to the production of luxurious goods for the court.
In 1443 to 1451 the first City Palace was built on the embankment of the river Spree. At that time Berlin-Cölln had about 8,000 inhabitants.
Population figures rose fast, leading to poverty. Jews were the usual suspects: in 1510 100 Jews were accused of stealing and desecrating hosts. 38 of them were burned to death; others were banished, losing their possessions, only to be returned by later margraves.
In 1540 Joachim II introduced the Protestant Reformation in Brandenburg and confiscated church possessions: this is secularization. He used the money to pay for his big projects, like building an avenue, the Kurfürstendamm, between his hunting castle Grunewald and his palace, Stadtschloss Berlin.
In 1576, the bubonic plague killed about 4,000 people in the city.
Around 1600 Berlin-Cölln had 12,000 inhabitants.
The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) brought harsh consequences for Berlin: a third of the houses were damaged, the population shrank from 10,000 to 6,000. Friedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg (1640-1688), the Great Elector, started a policy of immigration and religious tolerance.
In 1640 Frederick William took regency in the principality of Brandenburg. During his government Berlin reached 20,000 inhabitants and became significant among the cities in Central Europe for the first time.
In 1647 a boulevard with six rows of trees was laid down between the Tiergarten park and the Palace. The boulevard is called Unter den Linden.
In 1671, 50 Jewish families from Austria were offered a home. With the Edict of Potsdam (1685), he invited the French Calvinist Huguenots to Brandenburg. About 15,000 French arrived, 6,000 of whom settled in Berlin.
From 1674 on, the Dorotheenstadt was built in a bow of the river Spree, north-west of the Spreeinsel (Spree Island), where the Palace was situated.
From 1688 on the Friedrichstadt was built and settled.
Around 1700, 20 percent of the inhabitants of Berlin were French and their cultural influence was important. Many people from Bohemia, Poland, and Salzburg also took refuge. Friedrich Wilhelm also built a standing army.
Kingdom of Prussia
In 1701 Friedrich III (1688-1701) crowned himself as Friedrich I (1701-1713), King in Prussia. (Not of Prussia, because he didn't possess all of Prussia.) He was mostly interested in decorum: he ordered the building of the castle Charlottenburg in the west of the city. He made Berlin the capital of the new kingdom of Prussia.
His son, Friedrich Wilhelm I (1713-1740), in contrast, was a sparing man, who made Prussia an important military power.
In 1709 Berlin counted 55,000 inhabitants, of whom 5,000 served in the army.
In 1709 Cölln and Berlin were finally unified under the name of Berlin in 1709, including the suburbs Friedrichswerder, Dorotheenstadt, and Friedrichstadt, with 60,000 inhabitants. Berlin and Cölln are on both sides of the river Spree, in today's Mitte borough.
In 1740 Friedrich II, known as Frederick the Great (1740-1786) came to power. Berlin became, under the rule of the philosopher on the throne, a center of the Enlightenment, the city of Immanuel Kant and Moses Mendelssohn. Stagnation followed under the rule of Friedrich Wilhelm II. He was an adversary of the Enlightenment and practiced censorship and repression. However, he rebuilt Freidrich Wilhelm's city wall in stone, commissioning an improved Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) at the end of the 18th century - this gate is now widely recognised as symbol of Berlin.
In 1755 Berlin had 100,000 inhabitants, of whom 26,000 served in the army. Furthermore, Friedrich Wilhelm built a wooden wall around the city with 14 gates, known as Zoll- und Akzisemauer.
In 1760 Berlin was briefly occupied by the Russian Army during the Seven Years' War.
In 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte marched into Berlin. The Prussians realised that they were beaten, not only by the French, but also by their own backwardness. One of the consequences was that Berlin was granted self-government. In 1809 the first elections for the Berlin parliament took place, in which only the well-to-do could vote. In 1810 the Berlin University (nowadays the Humboldt University) was founded. Its first rector was the philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte. In 1812 Jews were allowed to practice all occupations.
The defeat of the French in 1814 meant an end to the reforms. But economically the city was in good shape. The population grew from 200,000 to 400,000 in the first half of the 19th century, making Berlin the fourth-largest city in Europe.
As in other European cities, 1848 was a revolutionary year in Berlin. Friedrich Wilhelm IV (1840-1861) managed to suppress the revolution. One of his reactions was to raise the income condition to partake in the elections, with the result was that only 5% of the citizens could vote. This system would stay in place until 1918.
In 1861, Wilhelm I (1861-1888) became the new king. In the beginning of his reign there was hope for liberalization. He appointed liberal ministers and built the city hall, Das Rote Rathaus. The appointment of Otto von Bismarck ended these hopes.
German Empire
Prussia was the dominant factor in the unification of Germany. When the German Empire was established in 1871, Wilhelm I became emperor, Bismarck chancellor, and Berlin the capital.
In the meantime, Berlin had become an industrial city with 800,000 inhabitants. Improvements to the infrastructure were needed; in 1896 the construction of the subway (U-Bahn) began and was completed in 1902. The neighborhoods around the city center (including Kreuzberg, Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain and Wedding) were filled with tenement blocks.
The economic boom caused by the new function of Berlin was followed by a crisis in the second half of the 1870s.
In 1884 the construction of the parliament building, the Reichstag, was commenced.
World War I led to hunger in Berlin. In the winter of 1916/1917 150,000 people were dependent on food aid, and strikes broke out. When the war ended, Wilhelm II (1888-1918) abdicated. The socialist Philipp Scheidemann at the Reichstag and the communist Karl Liebknecht at the Castle both proclaimed a republic. In the next months Berlin became a battleground between the two political systems.
The overall impression one gets when visiting Berlin today is one of great discontinuity, visibly reflecting the many ruptures of Germany's difficult history in the 20th century. Although it was the residence of the Prussian kings, Berlin's population did not greatly expand until the 19th century, mainly after becoming the capital of the German Empire in 1871. It remained Germany's capital during the Weimar Republic and under the Nazis' Third Reich. 1920s Berlin was a very exciting and interesting city to live and work during the post-World War I period.
In late December 1918, the German Communist Party (Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, KPD) was founded in Berlin. In January 1919, it tried to seize power (the Spartacist revolt). The coup failed and at the end of the month right-wing forces killed the communist leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. In March 1920, Wolfgang Kapp, founder of the right wing German Fatherland Party (Deutsche Vaterlands-Partei), tried to bring down the government. The Berlin garrison chose his side, and the government buildings were occupied (the government had already left Berlin). Only a general strike could stop this putsch.
On October 1, 1920, "Greater Berlin" (Groß-Berlin) was created by incorporating several neighbouring towns and villages like Charlottenburg, Köpenick or Spandau into the city; Berlin's population doubled overnight from about 2 to nearly 4 million inhabitants.
In 1922 the foreign minister Walther Rathenau was murdered in Berlin. The city was in shock: half a million people attended his funeral.
The economic situation was bad. Germany had to pay large sums of reparation money after the Treaty of Versailles, and the government reacted by printing so much money that inflation was enormous. Especially workers and pensioners were the victim of this policy. At the worst point of the inflation one dollar was worth about 4.2 trillion marks. From 1924 onwards the situation became better because of newly arranged agreements with the allied forces, American help, and a sounder fiscal policy. The heyday of Berlin began. It became the largest industrial city of the continent. People like the architect Walter Gropius, physicist Albert Einstein, painter George Grosz and writers Arnold Zweig, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Tucholsky made Berlin the cultural center of Europe. Night life was blooming in 1920s Berlin.
In 1922, the railway system, that connected Berlin to its neighboring cities and villages was electrified and transformed into the S-Bahn, and a year later Tempelhof airport was opened. Berlin was the second biggest inland harbour of the country. All this infrastructure was needed to transport and feed the over 4 million Berliners.
But not all was well. Even before the 1929 crash, 450,000 people were unemployed. In the same year Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party won its first seats in the city parliament. On July 12, 1929, the Prussian government under Otto Braun in Berlin was ousted by a military coup. The republic was nearing its breakdown, under the influence of extreme forces from the right and the left. On January 30, 1933, Hitler became Chancellor, after doing away with the Social Democrats.
Berlin had never been a center of the National Socialist (Nazi) movement, which had its roots in Bavaria. As the capital of the Weimar Republic, it constituted what the Nazis were fighting. But now it became the capital of the Third Reich.
On February 27, 1933 the Reichstag building was set on fire. The fire gave Hitler the opportunity to set aside the constitution: for details, see "Reichstag fire".
Around 1933, some 160,000 Jews were living in Berlin: one third of all German Jews, 4% of the Berlin's population. A third of them were poor immigrants from Eastern Europe, who lived mainly in the Scheunenviertel near Alexanderplatz. The Jews were persecuted from the beginning of the Nazi regime. In March, all Jewish doctors had to leave the Charité hospital. In the first week of April, Nazi officials ordered the German population not to buy at Jewish shops.
In 1936 the Summer Olympic Games were held in Berlin and used as a showcase for Nazi Germany (though the Games had been given to Germany before 1933). In order to not alienate the foreign visitors, the 'forbidden for Jews' signs were temporarily removed.
Around 1939, there were still 75,000 Jews living in Berlin. 50,000 of them were deported to the concentration camps, where most were murdered. Over 1200 Jews survived in Berlin by hiding.
Thirty kilometers northwest of Berlin, near Oranienburg, was Sachsenhausen, where mainly political opponents and Russian prisoners of war were incarcerated. Tens of thousands would die there. Sachsenhausen had subcamps near industries, where the prisoners had to work. Many of these camps were in Berlin.
Nazi plans for postwar Berlin
In the pre-World War II period Adolf Hitler and his subordinates had great plans to transform Berlin, because he thought that Berlin was one of the ugliest cities in the world, and he hated it. (Berlin was and is a center of left-wing political activity in Germany, and its residents largely opposed the Nazis' rise to power.) Therefore he and his architect Albert Speer made enormous plans for the new Berlin, the so-called Welthauptstadt Germania.
On the site of today's Parliamentary offices (Paul-Löbe-Haus) adjacent to the Reichstag, Speer planned to construct the Kupferhalle (The Great Hall), 250 m high, seven times higher than St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and with an enormous copper dome. It was planned to be large enough to hold 170,000 people. (After the war, Speer admitted that the plan was unviable due to a meteorological problem - namely, that the body heat and perspiration produced by this large amount of people inside would generate clouds and even precipitation (rain) inside the dome.) From The Great Hall, a southbound avenue was planned, the Avenue of Victory, 23 m wide and 5.6 km long. At the other end there would have been the new railway station, and next to it Tempelhof Airport. Additionally, halfway down the avenue there would have been a huge arch 117 m high, so large that the Arc de Triomphe in Paris would fit inside it. It was projected to be a monument commemorating those fallen during World War I and World War II. The project was to finish in 1950, and Berlin was to be re-named "Germania" on that occasion. But the construction never started, as Hitler decided it would be madness to start such a project during a war. Hitler also thought the Allied airstrikes very practical, mostly because it made demolishing the old Berlin so much cheaper.
Today only a few structures bear witness to the large-scale plans of Germania. Hermann Göring's Reichsluftfahrtministerium (National Ministry of Aviation), Tempelhof International Airport, Olympiastadion, and a series of street lights on the East-West Axis on Kaiserdamm and Straße des 17 Juni are all that remain. Hitler's Reich Chancellery was demolished by Soviet occupation authorities: red marble from the Chancellery was used to renovate the adjacent war-damaged U-Bahnhof Mohrenstraße subway station and the remaining rubble was used in the construction of Soviet War Memorial at Treptower Park in Berlin.
The war comes to Berlin
Allied bombardment of Berlin started in earnest in 1943, though an earlier raid for propaganda purposes had been conducted in 1940. Raids on German major cities grew in scope and raids of over 1,000 4-engined bombers were not uncommon by 1944. (On March 18, 1945 alone, for example, 1,250 American bombers attacked the city). In April 1945, the German capital was an obvious objective for Allied troops. In a controversial decision, General Eisenhower halted Anglo-American troops on the Elbe River. The whereabouts of Adolf Hitler were in doubt, and some (including Eisenhower's chief of staff, General Walter Bedell Smith) felt that the German government may in fact have moved to the Bavarian alps to establish a redoubt. German forces west of Berlin had - against Hitler's orders - established a corridor to the city free of major defensive works, but by mutual agreement, Berlin was earmarked for the Red Army, who converged on Berlin with several Fronts (the equivalent of Army Groups in the German and Anglo-American armies), intent on taking the city as its final prize. The Germans refused to surrender unconditionally, despite the inability of understrength and ill-equipped armies to prevent the fall of the city. Hitler remained in supreme command until April 30, 1945, when he committed suicide in the Führerbunker underneath the Reich Chancellery. Resistance did not end with Hitler's death, though most of the city was in Soviet hands by that point. On May 2, the city finally capitulated to the Soviet army. The Germans had undergone phenomenal suffering during Soviet operations on their soil, beginning with the first battles in East Prussia in the autumn of 1944. In particular, hundreds of thousands of women were subjected to rape by Soviet service personnel. The anonymous "A Woman in Berlin" (ISBN 1-844-08111-7) is a harrowing personal account of survival. The battle itself has been well chronicled; "The Fall of Berlin" by A Beevor (ISBN 0-670-03041-4) gives a detailed account with particular attention paid to civilian suffering. Cornelius Ryan also published an earlier book on the fall of Berlin entitled "The Last Battle". Other books include "Battle for Berlin: End of the Third Reich" by Earl Ziemke (Ballantyne Books, 1968), "Berlin 1945: The Final Reckoning" by Karl Bahm (ISBN 0-760-31240-0) as well as books by After the Battle Magazine and the Osprey Campaign series.
Destruction of buildings and infrastructure was nearly total in parts of the inner city business and residential sectors. The outlying sections suffered relatively little damage. This averages to one fifth of all buildings (50% in the inner city) for overall Berlin.
The divided city
By the end of the Second World War, up to 33% of Berlin had been destroyed by concerted Allied air raids and street fighting. The so called "Stunde Null" marked a new beginning for the city. Greater Berlin was divided into four sectors by the Allies under the London Protocol of 1944, one each for:-
- the United States, consisting of the Boroughs of Neukölln, Kreuzberg, Tempelhof, Schöneberg, Steglitz and Zehlendorf;(See : commandants of Berlin American Zone)
- the United Kingdom, consisting of the Boroughs of Tiergarten, Charlottenburg, Wilmersdorf and Spandau; (See :commandants of Berlin British Zone)
- France, consisting of the Boroughs of Wedding and Reinickendorf; (See :commandants of Berlin French Zone)
- the Soviet Union, consisting of the Boroughs of Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg,Pankow, Weißensee, Friedrichshain, Lichtenberg, Treptow, and Köpenick; (See :commandants of Berlin Soviet Zone) .
The Soviet victors of the Battle of Berlin immediately occupied all of Berlin. They handed the American, British and French sectors (later known as West Berlin) to the American and British Forces in July 1945: the French occupied their sector a little later. The Soviets used the period from May 1945 to July 1945 to dismantle industry, transport and other facilities in West Berlin, including removing railway tracks, as reparations for German war damage in the Soviet Union. This practice also continued in East Berlin and the Soviet occupation zone after 1945.
Berlin's unique situation as a city half-controlled by Western forces in the middle of the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany made it a natural focal point in the Cold War. Though the city was initially governed by a Four Power Allied Control Council with a leadership that rotated monthly, the Soviets withdrew from the council as East-West relations deteriorated and began governing their sector independently. The council continued to govern West Berlin, with the same rotating leadership policy, though now only involving France, Great Britain, and the United States.
East Germany chose Berlin (in practice, East Berlin) as its capital when the country was formed from the Soviet occupation zone in October 1949; however, this was rejected by the western allies, who continued to regard Berlin as an occupied city that was not legally part of any German state.
West Germany, formed on 23 May 1949 from the American, British, and French zones, had its seat of government and de facto capital in Bonn, although Berlin was symbolically named as the de jure West German capital in the West German Basic Law (Grundgesetz).
West Berlin de jure remained under the rule of the Western Allies, but for most practical purposes was treated as a part of West Germany.
Blockade, Airlift
In response to Allied efforts to fuse the American, French, and British sectors of western Germany into a federal state, American refusal to grant the Soviets war reparations from industrial areas of western Germany, and to a currency reform undertaken by the western powers without Soviet approval, the Soviets blocked ground access to West Berlin on 26 June 1948, in what became known as the "Berlin Blockade", in the hope of gaining control of the whole of Berlin. The Western Allies undertook a massive logistical effort to supply the western sectors of the city through the Berlin Airlift, known by the West Berliners as "die Luftbrücke" (the Air Bridge). The blockade lasted almost a year, ending when the Soviets once again allowed ground access to West Berlin on 11 May 1949.
As part of this project, US Army engineers expanded Tempelhof Airport. Because sometimes the deliveries contained sweets and candy for the children, the planes were also nicknamed "Rosinenbomber" (raisin bombers).
The June 17th Uprising
See Uprising of 1953 in East Germany. 60 construction workers building the showpiece Stalin-Allee in East Berlin went on strike on 16 June 1953, to demand a reduction in recent work-quota increases. They called for a general strike the next day, 17 June. The general strike and protest marches turned into rioting and spread throughout East Germany. The East German police failed to quell the unrest. It had to be suppressed by Soviet troops, who encountered stiff resistance from angry crowds across East Germany, and responded with live ammunition. At least 153 people were killed in the suppression of the uprising.
The continuation of the street "Unter den Linden" on the western side of the Brandenburg Gate was renamed Straße des 17. Juni in honor of the uprising, and 17 June was proclaimed a national holiday in West Germany.
Berlin Wall
On August 13, 1961 the communist East German government started to build the Berlin Wall, physically separating West Berlin from East Berlin and the rest of East Germany, as a response to massive numbers of East German citizens fleeing into West Berlin as a way to escape to the west. The East German government called the Wall the "anti-fascist protection wall".
During the Wall's existence there were around 5,000 successful escapes into West Berlin; 192 people were killed trying to cross and around 200 were seriously injured. The sandy soil under the Wall was both a blessing and a curse for those who attempted to tunnel their way to West Berlin and freedom. Although it was fast and easy to dig through, it was also more prone to collapse.
When the first stone blocks were laid down at the Potsdamer Platz in the early hours of August 13, US troops stood ready with ammunition issued and watched the wall being built, stone by stone. The US Military with West Berlin police kept Berliners 300 meters away from the border. President Kennedy and the United States Congress decided not to interfere and risk armed conflict, but instead sent protest notes to Moscow. Massive demonstrations took place in West Berlin for a long time.
John F. Kennedy gave a speech about the Berlin Wall in which he said, "Ich bin ein Berliner" -- "I am a Berliner" -- which meant much to a city that was a Western island in Soviet satellite territory.
Much Cold War espionage and counter-espionage took place in Berlin, against a backdrop of potential superpower confrontation in which both sides had nuclear weapons set for a range that could hit Germany. In 1971, a Four-Power agreement guaranteed access across East Germany to West Berlin and ended the potential for harassment or closure of the routes.
As many businesses did not want to operate in West Berlin due to its physical and economic isolation from the outside, the West German government subsidized any businesses that did operate in West Berlin.
Student Movement
In the 1960s, West Berlin became one of the centers of the German student movement. West Berlin was especially popular with young German left-wing radicals, as young men living in West Berlin were exempted from the obligatory military service required in West Germany proper: the Kreuzberg district became especially well-known for its high concentration of young radicals.
The Wall afforded unique opportunities for social gatherings. The physical wall was set some distance behind the actual sector border, up to several meters behind in some places. The West Berlin police were not legally allowed to enter the space between the border and the wall, as it was technically in East Berlin and outside their jurisdiction: many people took the opportunity to throw loud parties in this space, with the West Berlin authorities powerless to intervene.
In 1968 and the following years, West Berlin became one of the centers of the student revolt; in particular, the Kreuzberg borough was the center of many riots.
Reunited
At the 40th anniversary celebration of East Germany in East Berlin in October 1989, guest of honor Mikhail Gorbachev gave a speech indicating that he would not support hard-line positions by the East German regime, millions of whose citizens were trying to flee to West Germany across the weakening Iron Curtain in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
On 9 November 1989, after a misleading press statement by Politburo member Günter Schabowski, border guards gave in and allowed crowds from East Berlin across the frontier at the Bösebrücke. The guards believed that the authorities had decided to open the wall, but in reality no firm decision was taken and events gathered steam on their own. The East German leadership was in disarray following the resignation of party chieftain Erich Honecker in October.
People of East and West Berlin climbed up and danced on the wall at the Brandenburg Gate in scenes of wild celebration broadcast worldwide. This time no Soviet tanks rolled through Berlin. The wall never closed again, and was soon on its way to demolition, with countless Berliners and tourists wielding hammers and chisels to secure souvenir chunks.
On Christmas Day December 25, 1989, the American conductor Leonard Bernstein shared with East and West Berliners and the world in the Ode to Joy (which he had reworded Ode to Freedom) his unforgettable Berlin Celebration Concert in order to celebrate the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
A performance of Pink Floyd's The Wall took place in Potsdamer Platz in 1990, led by old Pink Floyd member, Roger Waters.
After the breakdown of Communism in Europe, on 3 October 1990 Germany and Berlin were both reunited. By then the Wall had been almost completely demolished, with only small sections remaining.
In June 1991 the German Parliament, the Bundestag, voted to move the (West) German capital back from Bonn to Berlin. Berlin once more became the capital of a unified Germany.
In 1999 Ministries and Government Offices moved back from Bonn to Berlin.
Historical population
1400: 8,000 inhabitants (Berlin and Cölln)
1600: 16,000
1618: 10,000
1648: 6,000
1709: 60,000 (after join with 'Friedrichswerder', the 'Dorotheenstadt' and 'Friedrichstadt')
1755: 100,000
1800: 172,100
1830: 247,500
1850: 418,700
1880: 1,124,000
1900: 1,888,000
1925: 4,036,000 (after 1920 enlargement of the territory)
2003: 3,388,477