Berlin

Berlin
Location in Germany
Map of Berlin in Germany
Flag	Coat of arms
	Coat of Arms of Berlin
Basic information
Area :	891.75  km² City
	5,370  km² Metro Area
Population :	3,396,990 11/2005
	3,675,000 Urban Area
	4,262,480 Metro Area
Density :	3,809/km² City
Elevation :	34 - 115 m
Coordinates :	52°31′N 13°24′E
Time zone :	UTC+1 /Summer UTC+2
Website :	www.berlin.de
Government
Governing Mayor :	Klaus Wowereit SPD
Governing Parties :	SPD / Linkspartei
State Election :	17 September 2006
Subdivisions :	12 Bezirke

For other uses, see Berlin (disambiguation).

Berlin is the capital city and a state of Germany. It is the country's largest city in area and population, and the second most populous city in the European Union.

Berlin is one of the most influential centers in European politics and culture. The city serves as an important junction of national and continental transportation. Berlin is a major tourist and shopping destination and is well known for its diverse range of convention venues and media outlets. It is home to some of the world's most prominent universities, research faculties, theaters, and museums.

The rapidly changing metropolis at present enjoys an international reputation for its festivals, vibrant nightlife, contemporary architecture, and avant-garde arts. Being home to people from over 180 nations, Berlin is a magnet for individuals who are attracted by its liberal lifestyle, urban eclecticism, and artistic freedom.

First documented in the 13th century, Berlin was the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg until 1701 and of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1701 to 1871. The city became the capital of the unified Germany in 1871 and remained so until the city was split in 1945. East Berlin became capital of the East Germany, while West Berlin was a democratic island surrounded by East Germany. Following German reunification in 1990, Berlin again became capital of Germany.

Geography

Setting

File:Spreebad kl.jpg

River Spree in summer

Berlin is located in eastern Germany, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) west of the border with Poland. Berlin's landscape was shaped by ice sheets during the last ice age. The city center lies along the river Spree in the Berlin-Warsaw Urstromtal (ancient river valley), formed by water flowing from melting ice sheets at the end of the last Ice Age. The Urstromtal lies between the low Barnim plateau to the north, and the Teltow plateau to the south. In Spandau, Berlin's westernmost borough, the Spree meets the river Havel, which flows from north to south through western Berlin. The course of the Havel is more like a chain of lakes, the largest being the Tegeler See and Großer Wannsee. A series of lakes also feeds into the upper Spree, which flows through the Großer Müggelsee in eastern Berlin.

Substantial parts of present-day Berlin extend onto the low plateaus on both sides of the Spree Valley. Large parts of the boroughs Reinickendorf and Pankow lie on the Barnim plateau, while most of the boroughs Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, and Neukölln lie on the Teltow plateau. The borough of Spandau lies partly within the Berlin Urstromtal and partly on the Nauen Plain, which stretches to the west of Berlin. The highest elevations in Berlin are the Teufelsberg in the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and the Müggelberge in the borough of Treptow-Köpenick. Both hills have an elevation of about 115 meters (377 feet). The Teufelsberg is in fact an artificial pile of rubble from the ruins of World War II.

Climate

Berlin has a temperate/mesothermal climate (Cfb) according to the Köppen climate classification system. The mean annual temperature for Berlin-Dahlem (a location within Steglitz-Zehlendorf) is 9.4°C (48.9°F) and its mean annual precipitation totals 578 millimeters (22.8 inches). The warmest months are June, July, and August, with mean temperatures of 16.7 to 17.9°C (62.1 to 64.2°F). The coldest are December, January, and February, with mean temperatures of −0.4 to 1.2°C (31.3 to 34.2°F). Berlin's built-up area creates a microclimate, with heat stored by the city's buildings. Temperatures can be 4°C higher in the city than in the surrounding areas.

	Jan.	Feb.	Mar.	Apr.	May	June	July	Aug.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.
Mean daily maximum temperature (°C)	2.9	4.2	8.5	13.2	18.9	21.6	23.7	23.6	18.8	13.4	7.1	4.4
Mean daily minimum temperature (°C)	−1.9	−1.5	−1.3	4.2	9.0	12.3	14.3	14.1	10.6	6.4	2.2	−0.4
Mean total rainfall (mm)	42.3	33.3	40.5	37.1	53.8	68.7	55.5	58.2	45.1	37.3	43.6	55.3
Mean number of rain days	10.0	8.0	9.1	7.8	8.9	9.8	8.4	7.9	7.8	7.6	9.6	11.4

History

Main article: History of Berlin

The first written mention of towns in the area of present-day Berlin dates from the late 12th and early 13th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197, and Köpenick in 1209, though these areas did not join Berlin until 1920. The central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns: Cölln (on the Fisher Island) is first mentioned in a 1237 document, and Berlin (across the Spree in what is now called the Nikolaiviertel) in one from 1244. Both documents are exhibited in the cathedral museum in the town of Brandenburg. From the beginning, the two cities formed an economic and social unit. In 1307, the two cities were united politically. Over time, the twin cities came to be known simply as Berlin, the larger of the pair. The name Berlin, which is pronounced /bə(r)ˈlɪn/ in English and in German, is of uncertain origin, but may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl- "swamp".

In 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. Subsequent members of the Hohenzollern family ruled until 1918 in Berlin, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia, and finally as German emperors. The inhabitants of Berlin did not always welcome these changes. In 1448 they rebelled in the “Berlin Indignation” against the construction of a new royal palace by Elector Frederick II Irontooth. This protest was not successful, however, and the citizenry lost many of its political and economic privileges. In 1451 Berlin became the royal residence of the Brandenburg electors, and Berlin had to give up its status as a free Hanseatic city. In 1539 the electors and the city officially became Lutheran.

17–19th century

Statue of Frederick the Great

The Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648 had devastating consequences for Berlin. A third of the houses were damaged, and the city lost half of its population. Frederick William, known as the “Great Elector”, who had succeeded his father George William as ruler in 1640, initiated a policy of promoting immigration and religious toleration. Over the following decades, Berlin expanded greatly in area and population with the founding of the new suburbs of Friedrichswerder, Dorotheenstadt, and Friedrichstadt, today the site of many government offices. In 1671, fifty Jewish families from Austria were given a home in Berlin. With the Edict of Potsdam in 1685, Frederick William invited the French Huguenots to Brandenburg. More than 15,000 Huguenots came, of whom 6,000 settled in Berlin. Around 1700, approximately twenty percent of Berlin's residents were French, and their cultural influence was great. Many other immigrants came from Bohemia, Poland, and Salzburg.

With the coronation of Frederick I in 1701 as king of Prussia, Berlin became the capital of the kingdom. On 1 January 1710, the cities of Berlin, Cölln, Friedrichswerder, Dorotheenstadt, and Friedrichstadt were united as the “Royal Capital and Residence of Berlin”. The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the 19th century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main rail hub and economic center of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1861, outlying suburbs including Wedding, Moabit, and several others were incorporated into Berlin. In 1871, Berlin became capital of the newly founded German Empire.

20th century

At the end of World War I in 1918, the Weimar Republic was proclaimed in Berlin. In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act united dozens of suburban cities, villages, and estates around Berlin into a greatly expanded city. After this expansion, Berlin had a population of around 4 million. 1920s Berlin was a very exciting and interesting city.

In this Soviet photograph from 1945-05-02, Red Army soldiers are raising the Soviet flag on the roof of the Reichstag

The Nazi Party came to power in 1933 and used the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin for propaganda purposes. There were also plans to rebuild Berlin as "Germania, Capital of the World." However, these plans were put aside because of World War II, although a number of important modernist structures and buildings were built. Nazi rule destroyed Berlin's Jewish community, which numbered 160,000 before the Nazis came to power. After the brutal pogrom of Kristallnacht in 1938, thousands of the city's Jews were imprisoned in the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The last Jews in Berlin (except for a few married to non-Jews) were taken to the Grunewald railway station over several weeks in early 1943 and shipped in stock cars to death camps such as Auschwitz.

During the war, large parts of Berlin were destroyed in the 1943–44 air raids and, in 1945, by street combat during the Battle of Berlin. After the end of the war in Europe in 1945, Berlin was divided into four sectors, analogous to the occupation zones into which Germany was divided. The sectors of the Western Allies (the United States, United Kingdom, and France) formed West Berlin, while the Soviet sector formed East Berlin.

File:Berlin Wall graffiti&death strip.jpg

The Berlin Wall in 1986, brightly painted on the western side. Those trying to cross the so-called death strip on the eastern side could be shot.

All four allies retained shared responsibility for Berlin. However, the growing political differences between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union led the latter, which controlled the territory surrounding Berlin, to impose the Berlin Blockade, an economic blockade of West Berlin, from 24 June 1948 to 11 May 1949, which the Allies successfully overcame by airlifting food and other supplies to the city. In 1949 the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in West Germany, while the Marxist-Leninist German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in East Germany. The founding of the two German states increased Cold War tensions. West Berlin was surrounded by East German territory. Due to Berlin's isolation and vulnerability, the Federal Republic established its provisional capital in Bonn. East Germany, however, proclaimed East Berlin, which included most of the historic center, as its capital. The tensions between east and west culminated in the construction of Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin and other barriers around West Berlin by the East Germany on 13 August 1961 and were exacerbated by a tank standoff at Checkpoint Charlie on 27 October 1961. West Berlin was now de facto a part of West Germany, but with a unique legal status, while East Berlin was de facto a part of East Germany.

File:Berlin reichstag 2005.jpg

The Reichstag is the site of the German parliament

The eastern and western sectors of Berlin were now completely separated. It was possible for Westerners to pass from one to the other only through strictly controlled checkpoints. For most Easterners, travel to West Berlin or West Germany was no longer possible. In 1971, the Four-Power Agreement on Berlin was signed. While the Soviet Union applied the oversight of the four powers only to West Berlin, the Western Allies emphasized in a 1975 note to the United Nations their position that four-power oversight applied to Berlin as a whole.

In 1989 pressure from the East German population brought a transition to democracy in East Germany, and its citizens gained free access across the Berlin Wall, which was quickly demolished. In 1990 the two parts of Germany were reunified as the Federal Republic of Germany, and Berlin became the German capital according to the unification treaty. In 1991, the Bundestag (the lower house of the German parliament) decided, after a controversial public discussion, that the city should again be the seat of the German national government. Most branches of the German government relocated from Bonn to Berlin during the subsequent years. On 1 September 1999 the German parliament and government began their work in Berlin.

Politics

The Bundeskanzleramt is the seat of the German chancellor

Berlin is the national capital of the Federal Republic of Germany and is the seat of the President of Germany, whose official residence is Bellevue Palace. Since German reunification on 3 October 1990 it has been one of the three city states, together with Hamburg and Bremen, among the present sixteen states of Germany. The Bundesrat ("federal council") is the representation of the Federal States (Bundesländer) of Germany and has its seat at the former Prussian Herrenhaus (House of Lords). Though most of the ministries are seated in Berlin, some of them, as well as some minor departments, are seated in Bonn, the former capital of West Germany.

Government

Mayor Klaus Wowereit (r.)

The city and state parliament is the House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus), which currently has 141 seats. Berlin's executive body is the Senate of Berlin (Senat von Berlin). The Senate of Berlin consists of the Governing Mayor (Regierender Bürgermeister) and up to eight senators holding ministerial positions, one of them holding the official title "Mayor" (Bürgermeister) as deputy to the Governing Mayor. Each of the senators needs the confidence of the Abgeordnetenhaus and each of them can be voted out of office by the house. This happened in 2001, when the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) senators were defeated by a motion of no confidence. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) then took control of the city government after the 2001 state election.

The Governing Mayor is simultaneously lord mayor of the city (Oberbürgermeister der Stadt) and prime minister of the federal state (Ministerpräsident des Bundeslandes). The office of Berlin's governing mayor is in the Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall). Presently (April 2006), this office is held by Klaus Wowereit of the SPD. The city's government is based on a coalition between the SPD and Die Linke.PDS, a party formed by a merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) (the successor to the former East German communist party), which renamed itself in 2005 for cooperation with the Labor and Social Justice Party.

Subdivisions

Map of Berlin's boroughs

Berlin is subdivided into twelve boroughs (Bezirke in German, also sometimes called districts in English), but before Berlin's 2001 administrative reform there were 23. Each borough is subdivided into a number of localities (Stadtteil in German, also sometimes called subdistricts or neighborhoods in English), which represent the traditional urbanized areas that inhabitants identify with. Some of these have been rearranged several times over the years. At present the city of Berlin consists of 96 such localities. The localities often consist of a number of city neighborhoods (usually called Kiez in colloquial German) representing small residential areas.

Each borough is governed by a borough council (Bezirksamt) consisting of ten councilors (Stadträte) and a borough mayor (Bezirksbürgermeister). The borough council is elected by the borough assembly (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung). The boroughs of Berlin are not independent municipalities. The power of borough governments is limited and subordinate to the Senate of Berlin. The borough mayors form the Council of Mayors (Rat der Bürgermeister), led by the city's Governing Mayor, which advises the Senate.

The localities have no government bodies of their own, even though most of the localities have historic roots in older municipalities that predate the formation of Greater Berlin on 1 October 1920. The subsequent position of locality representative (Ortsvorsteher) was discontinued in favor of borough mayors.

Sister cities

Town twinning between Berlin and other cities began in 1987, excluding that with Los Angeles which began in 1967. East Berlin's partnerships were canceled at the time of German reunification (although some were subsequently restored), and West Berlin's partnerships had previously been restricted to the borough level. During the Cold War era, the partnerships had reflected the different powers blocs, with West Berlin partnering with capitals in the West, and East Berlin mostly partnering with cities from the Warsaw Pact and its allies.

- Los Angeles, United States (1967) - Belgrade, Serbia (1978) - Paris, France (1987) - Madrid, Spain (1988) - Istanbul, Turkey (1989) - Moscow, Russia (1990) - Warsaw, Poland (1991) - Budapest, Hungary (1991) - Brussels, Belgium (1992) - Jakarta, Indonesia (1993)

- Tashkent, Uzbekistan (1993) - Mexico City, Mexico (1993) - Beijing, China (1994) - Tokyo, Japan (1994) - Buenos Aires, Argentina (1994) - Prague, Czech Republic (1995) - Windhoek, Namibia (2000) - London, United Kingdom (October 2000)

Demographics

As of November 2005, Berlin has 3,396,990 inhabitants in an area of 891.75 square kilometers (344.31 mi²). Thus, the population density of the region amounts to 3,809 inhabitants per square kilometer (9,857/square mile). Berlin residents' average age is 41.7 years (as of 2004). A total of 453,977 residents are of foreign origins, coming from 185 different countries. Among them, approximately 38,522 citizens come from the nearest neighboring country, Poland, and 117,624 are from Turkey—Berlin has the largest Turkish population of any city in Europe outside of Turkey. Berlin is the sixth-largest urban area in the European Union, and approximately the 80th-largest urban area in the world.

As of 2005, around 25% of the population belongs to the Protestant Evangelical Church in Germany, 10% are Roman Catholics, 6% are Muslims, 0.4% are Jews, and more than 50% have no registered religion.

See also: Berlin population statistics

Economy

Berlin was once a major manufacturing center and the economic and financial hub of Germany. The city suffered economically during the Cold War, when West Berlin was isolated geographically and East Berlin suffered from poor economic decisions made by East Germany’s central planners. Since reunification, the city has relied increasingly on economic activity in the service sectors, but nevertheless accumulated a record state debt.

Economic history

Sony Center and newly built corporate offices

Berlin was founded at a point where trade routes crossed the River Spree and quickly became a commercial center. During the early modern period, the city prospered from its role as Prussian capital by manufacturing luxury goods for the Prussian court and supplies for the Prussian military.

During the mid-1800s, the Industrial Revolution transformed the city’s economy. Berlin became Germany’s main rail hub and a center of locomotive manufacturing. The city became a leader in the manufacture of other kinds of machinery as well, and developed an important chemical industry sector. Toward the end of the 19th century, Berlin became a world leader in the then cutting-edge sector of electrical equipment manufacturing. As the de facto center of the German Zollverein, or Customs Union, and later the seat of the Reichsbank, Berlin became Germany’s banking and financial center as well.

Berlin suffered from both the German hyperinflation of the 1920s and the Great Depression of the 1930s. The city’s economy revived as a center of weapons production under the Nazis, but it lost a pool of entrepreneurial talent when the Nazis forced Jewish businessmen to sell their holdings and ultimately massacred most who did not flee Germany. World War II severely damaged Berlin’s industrial infrastructure, and Soviet expropriation of machinery and other capital equipment as “war reparations” further damaged Berlin’s industrial base. Soviet restrictions on transport impeded communication with West Germany and ended hopes that Berlin would resume a role as Germany’s financial center; most banks established headquarters in Frankfurt. In East Berlin, central planners rebuilt a manufacturing sector, but one that was not competitive internationally or responsive to market demand. West Berlin’s economy grew increasingly dependent on state subsidies and on its role as an educational and research center.

Berlin’s and Germany’s unification brought the collapse of many of East Berlin’s producers, which could not compete with market-disciplined Western competitors. Massive unemployment was only partly compensated by the growth of jobs in the construction and infrastructural sectors involved in rebuilding and upgrading East Berlin’s infrastructure. The arrival of the federal government in 1999 brought some economic stimulus to Berlin. Berlin’s service sectors have also benefited from improved transportation and communications links to the surrounding region. While some manufacturing remains in the city (Siemens and Schering are headquartered here, for instance), the service sectors have become the city’s economic mainstay. Unemployment remains high, however, at 19.0% as of August 2005.

Economic trends

The Treptowers and the Molecule Men

The gross state product totaled €77.9 billion in 2004. This compares with €77.4 billion in 1995. Correcting for the effects of inflation, however, this represents an 11% reduction in the size of Berlin's economy over 9 years.

In terms of composition, Berlin's gross state product in 2004 was dominated by the service sectors, which made up 76.9% of the economy. The largest service sectors were real estate (29.2%) and government services (28.3%). Goods-producing sectors accounted for 16.2% of the economy, with manufacturing alone accounting for 10.5% and construction for 2.9%. Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries made up 0.1% of the economy. Banking fees made up 3.0% of the city’s economy. Net federal government transfers and subsidies accounted for the remainder (9.7%) of Berlin's gross state product.

Before the reunification of Germany and the two Berlins in 1990, West Berlin received substantial subsidies from the West German state to compensate for its geographic isolation from West Germany. Many of those subsidies were phased out after 1990. The reduced financial support for the city and its gradual economic decline have produced fiscal difficulties for Berlin's city government and forced it to cut funding for various programs.

Mainly due to reunification-related expenditures, Berlin has accumulated more debt than any other city in Germany, with the most current estimate being €60 billion. According to the current state government, the situation has become so dramatic as to call for support from the federal government. Public argument currently revolves around Berlin's expenditures, with one side calling Berlin to go for deeper budget cuts, saying "that the city continues to live beyond its means, citing the upkeep of three universities, three opera houses and six housing authorities as examples", while Berlin responds to this with referring to the 70,000 municipal jobs that have been cut already, which—in part—resulted in a reduction of state expenditure by 11% over the last decade in comparison to the national average, a 3.3% rise.

Media

File:Berlinale logo small.png

Berlin Film Festival

Berlin is the home of many television and radio stations, national as well as regional. The public broadcasters RBB and Deutsche Welle TV have their headquarters there, and most national broadcasters have a studio in the city.

Berlin has Germany's largest number of daily newspapers, with three major local broadsheets (Berliner Zeitung, Der Tagesspiegel, and Berliner Morgenpost), and three major tabloids, as well as national dailies of varying sizes, each with a different political affiliation, such as Die Welt, Junge Freiheit, junge Welt, Neues Deutschland, and die Tageszeitung. In addition, several weekly papers publish here, and Berlin has three alternative weeklies focusing on culture and entertainment. The Exberliner, a monthly magazine, is Berlin's only English-language periodical. Berlin is also the headquarters of two major German-language publishing houses: Walter de Gruyter and Springer, each of which publishes books, periodicals, and multimedia products.

Berlin is important in the German film industry, as it is home to important film and TV production companies like Senator Film. Many international movies and European co-productions have been filmed there. Berlin is also home of the European Film Academy and the German Film Academy, and is host of the Berlin Film Festival. In addition, Babelsberg Studios and the important production company UFA are located just outside Berlin in Potsdam.

See also: List of films featuring Berlin

Education

Berlin is one of Germany's most important centers of higher education and research, with four universities, numerous professional, technical, and private colleges, and a large number of research institutes and thinktanks.

Higher education, research

The Free University of Berlin

Around 140,000 students attend the universities and professional or technical colleges. The three largest universities alone account for around 110,000 students. These are the Freie Universität Berlin with 40,840 students, the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin with 36,423 students, and the Technische Universität Berlin with 31,547 students.The Universität der Künste has about 4,300 students. In addition to these universities, there is a wide range of professional and technical colleges (called Fachhochschulen in German) training students in a wide range of disciplines, from business and management to the arts. Berlin also has a large concentration of research institutions independent of, or only loosely connected to its universities. Together with its universities, these research institutions make Berlin one of the most important centers for research in Europe.

In addition to the libraries affiliated with the various universities, the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin is a major research library. It has two main locations, one near Potsdamer Platz on Potsdamer Straße and one on Unter den Linden.

See also: Universities, colleges, and research institutions in Berlin

Schools

Berlin has a six-year primary education program. After completing primary school, students progress to one of four types of secondary school for six further years: Hauptschule, Realschule, Gymnasium, or Gesamtschule. The Französisches Gymnasium Berlin, which was founded in 1689 for the benefit of Huguenot refugees, offers bilingual (German/French) instruction. Among its former students are Wernher von Braun, Reinhard Mey, and Gesine Schwan.

See also: Education in Germany

Culture

Ishtar Gate at Pergamon Museum

Berlin is noted for its numerous cultural institutions, many of which enjoy international reputation. In addition, cultural diversity and tolerance remain from the time when West Berlin took pride in its role as a "free city" with the motto "something for everyone."

Berlin has a rich art scene, and it is home to hundreds of art galleries. The city is host to the Art Forum annual international art fair. Many young Germans and international artists continue to settle in the city, and Berlin has established itself as an important center of youth and popular culture in Europe. Signs of this expanding role were the 2003 announcement that the annual Popkomm, Europe's largest music industry convention, would move to Berlin after 15 years in Cologne. Shortly thereafter, MTV also decided to move its German headquarters and main studios from Munich to Berlin. Universal Music Group opened its European headquarters on the banks of the River Spree in an area known as the mediaspree. Since 2005, Berlin has been listed as a UNESCO City of Design.

See also: 1920s Berlin

Nightlife, festivals

Christopher Street Day celebrations

Berlin has one of the most diverse and vibrant nightlife scenes in Europe. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 many buildings in Mitte, the former city center of East Berlin were renovated. Many had not been rebuilt since World War II. Illegally occupied by young people, they became a fertile ground for all sorts of underground and counter-culture gatherings. It is also home to many nightclubs, including Kunst Haus Tacheles, techno clubs Tresor, WMF, Ufo and E-Werk.

Former West Berlin was also home to several well-known nightclubs. SO36 in Kreuzberg originally focused largely on punk music but today has become a popular venue for dances and parties of all kinds. SOUND, located from 1971 to 1988 in Tiergarten and today in Charlottenburg, gained notoriety in the late 1970s for its popularity with heroin users and other drug addicts as described in Christiane F.'s book Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo. The Linientreu, near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, has been well known since the 1990s for techno music. The LaBelle discotheque in Friedenau became famous as the location of the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing.

Berlin's annual Karneval der Kulturen, a multi-ethnic street parade, and Christopher Street Day celebrations, Central Europe's largest gay-lesbian pride event, are openly supported by the city's government. Berlin is also well known for the techno carnival Love Parade and the cultural festival Berliner Festspiele, which include the jazz festival JazzFest Berlin.

Museums, galleries

Alte Nationalgalerie

Berlin has a very large number of museums. The ensemble on the Museum Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is situated in the northern part of the Spree Island between the Spree and the Kupfergraben. As early as 1841 it was designated a “district dedicated to art and antiquities” by a royal decree. Subsequently, the Altes Museum (Old Museum) in the Lustgarten, and the Neues Museum (New Museum), Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery), Pergamon Museum, and Bode Museum were built there. While these buildings once housed distinct collections, the names of the buildings no longer necessarily correspond to the names of the collections they house.

The Museum for Pre-and Early History remains at the Charlottenburg Palace until the Neues Museum is renovated. In the case of the Alte Nationalgalerie, its collection of 19th-century painting and sculpture carries the same name as the building that houses it. However, the Bode Museum, which underwent extensive renovation during the early 2000s, will house the Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art and the Numismatic Collection when it reopens in 2006.

Apart from the Museum Island, there is a wide variety of museums. The Gemäldegalerie (Painting Gallery) focuses on the paintings of the "old masters" from the 13th to the 18th centuries, while the Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery, built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe) specializes in 20th-century European painting. The Deutsches Historisches Museum across Unter den Linden from Humboldt University is a museum of German history. The Bauhaus Archive is an architecture museum. The Jewish Museum has a standing exhibition on 2,000 years of German-Jewish history. The Egyptian Museum of Berlin, across the street from Charlottenburg Palace, is home to one of the world's most important collections of Ancient Egyptian artifacts. The German Museum of Technology in Kreuzberg has a large collection of historical technical artifacts. The Humboldt Museum of Natural History near Berlin Hauptbahnhof has the largest mounted dinosaur in the world, and the best preserved specimen of an archaeopteryx. In Dahlem, there are several museums of world art and culture, such as the Museum of Indian Art, the Museum of East Asian Art, the Ethnological Museum, the Museum of European Cultures, as well as the Allied Museum (a museum of the Cold War), the Brücke Museum (an art museum). In Lichtenberg, on the grounds of the former East German Ministry for State Security (Stasi), is the Stasi Museum. The Wall Museum, also known as Museum at Checkpoint Charlie, displays moments from the history of the divided Berlin. The East Side Gallery in Friedrichshain is an open-air exhibition of art painted directly on one of the remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall. The Beate Uhse Erotic Museum near Zoo Station claims to be the world's largest erotic museum.

See also: List of museums and galleries in Berlin

Theaters, opera houses, music

Berliner Philharmonie

Berlin is home to several theaters. The Deutsches Theater in Mitte was built in 1849–50 and has operated continuously since then except for a one-year break (1944–45) due to World War II. The Volksbühne on Rosa Luxemburg Platz was built in 1913–14, though the company had been founded already in 1890. The Berliner Ensemble, famous for performing the works of Bertolt Brecht, was established in 1949 not far from the Deutsches Theater. The Schaubühne was founded in 1962 in a building in Kreuzberg, but moved in 1981 to the building of the former Universum Cinema on Kurfürstendamm. Other theaters in Berlin include the Theater des Westens, the Theater am Potsdamer Platz, the Friedrichstadtpalast, and the Maxim Gorki Theater.

Berlin has three major opera houses: the Deutsche Oper, the Berlin State Opera, and the Komische Oper. The Berlin State Opera on Unter den Linden is the oldest; it opened in 1742. Its current musical director is Daniel Barenboim. The Komische Oper, which has traditionally specialized in operettas, is located not far from the State Opera just off Unter den Linden. It originally opened in 1892 as a theater and has been operating under its current name since 1947. The Deutsche Oper opened in 1912 in Charlottenburg (then still a separate town from Berlin) and is still in the same location, not far from Berlin Zoologischer Garten. During the division of the city from 1961 to 1989 it was the only major opera house in West Berlin.

There are two major symphony orchestras in Berlin. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world; it is housed in the Berliner Philharmonie near Potsdamer Platz on a street named for the orchestra's longest-serving conductor, Herbert von Karajan. The current principal conductor is Simon Rattle, who took over in 2002 from Karajan's successor, Claudio Abbado. The Berlin Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1952 as the orchestra for East Berlin, since the Philharmonic was based in West Berlin. Its current principal conductor is Eliahu Inbal.

Sport

World Cup Artwork in Berlin

Berlin hosted the 1936 Olympics and is the host city for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final. The annual Berlin Marathon and the annual Golden League event ISTAF for athletics are also held here. The WTA Tour holds the Qatar Total German Open annually in the city. Founded in 1896, it is one of the oldest tennis tournaments for women. The FIVB World Tour has chosen an inner-city site near Alexanderplatz to present a Beachvolleyball-Grand Slam every year.

Berlin is home to Hertha BSC Berlin, a football team in the Bundesliga, and the basketball team ALBA Berlin known as the "Berlin Albatrosses". ALBA Berlin could arguably be the most successful basketball in the recent decade, and has won the national championships from 1997 to 2003. Berlin is also home to the Berlin Thunder of NFL Europe, an American football team, as well as the Eisbären Berlin of the German Ice Hockey League, an ice hockey team which was founded in the East German era.

Club	Sport	Founded	League	Venue	Head Coach
Hertha BSC Berlin	Soccer	1892	Bundesliga	Olympiastadion	Falko Götz
ALBA Berlin	Basketball	1991	BBL	Max-Schmeling-Halle	Henrik Rödl
Eisbären Berlin	Ice Hockey	1954	DEL	Wellblechpalast	Pierre Pagé
Berlin Thunder	American Football	1999	NFL Europe	Olympiastadion	Rick Lantz
SCC Berlin	Volleyball	1911	DVB	Sporthalle Charlottenburg	Michael Warm

Zoos, botanical gardens, parks

Greenhouse at the Botanical garden

Berlin has two zoos. Zoologischer Garten Berlin, the older of the two, was founded in 1844, and presents the most diverse range of species in the world. Tierpark Friedrichsfelde, founded in 1955 in the grounds of Schloss Friedrichsfelde in the Borough of Lichtenberg), is Europe's largest zoo in terms of square meters.

Berlin's botanical gardens include the Botanic Museum Berlin, the largest botanical garden in Europe.

Tiergarten is Berlin's largest park and was designed by Peter Joseph Lenné. In Kreuzberg the Viktoriapark provides a good viewing point over the southern part of inner city Berlin. Treptower Park beside the Spree in Treptow has a monument honoring the Soviet soldiers killed in the 1945 Battle of Berlin. The Volkspark in Friedrichshain, which opened in 1848, is the oldest park in the city. Its summit is man-made and actually covers a World War II bunker as well as rubble from the ruins of the city; at its foot is Germany's main memorial to Polish soldiers. Weißensee Cemetery is the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe. The writers Micha Josef Berdyczewski and Stefan Heym as well as the philosopher Hermann Cohen are buried there. Städtischer Friedhof III in Friedenau is the final resting place of Marlene Dietrich as well as composer Ferruccio Busoni and photographer Helmut Newton.

Architecture

Weltzeituhr

Even though Berlin does have a number of impressive buildings from earlier centuries, the city's appearance today is mainly shaped by the key role it played in Germany's history in the 20th century. Each of the national governments based in Berlin—the 1871 German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, East Germany, and now the reunified Germany—initiated ambitious construction programs, each with its own distinctive character. Berlin was devastated by bombing raids during World War II, and many of the old buildings that escaped the bombs were eradicated in the 1950s and 1960s in both West and East. Much of this destruction was caused by overambitious architecture programs, especially to build new residential or business quarters and main roads. It would not be an exaggeration to say that no other city in the world offers Berlin's unusual mix of architecture, especially 20th-century architecture. The city's tense and unique recent history has left it with a distinctive array of sights.

Not much is left of the Berlin Wall. The East Side Gallery in Friedrichshain near the Oberbaumbrücke ("Upper Turnpike Bridge") over the Spree preserves a portion of the Wall. Architectural styles still sometimes reveal whether one is in the former eastern or western part of the city. In the eastern part, many Plattenbauten can be found, reminders of Eastern Bloc ambitions to create complete residential areas with fixed ratios of shops, kindergartens and schools. Another difference between former east and west is in the design of little red and green men on pedestrian crossing lights (Ampelmännchen in German); the eastern versions received an opt-out during the standardization of road traffic signs after re-unification, and have survived to become a popular icon in tourist products. They are however starting to appear in western Berlin too.

Historical sights

The Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate is a world-wide known symbol of Berlin, and nowadays of Germany. It also appears on German euro coins. The Reichstag building is the traditional seat of the German Parliament, renovated in the 1950s after severe World War II damage . The building was again remodeled by Norman Foster in the 1990s and features a glass dome over the session area, which is open to the public and allows parliamentarians to be viewed from above.

Gendarmenmarkt, a neoclassical square in Berlin whose name dates back to the Napoleonic occupation of Berlin, is bordered by two similarly designed cathedrals, the French Cathedral and the German Cathedral. The Concert Hall (Konzerthaus), home of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, stands between the two cathedrals.

The Berliner Dom, a Protestant cathedral and the third church on this site, is located on the Spree Island across from the site of the Berlin City Palace and adjacent to the Lustgarten. A large crypt houses the remains of some of the earlier Prussian royal family. The Cathedral of St. Hedwig is Berlin's Roman Catholic cathedral.

The Nikolaiviertel is the historical core of Berlin. Its church dates from the 13th century. This area was much remodeled during the East German period and although not authentic, has become a busy tourist site. Adjacent to this area is the Rotes Rathaus and on a previously built-up part of the city, which has now become an open space, is the Neptunbrunnen, a fountain featuring a mythological scene. The fountain has been moved from its earlier location in front of the Palace. This area is now known as Marx-Engels-Platz.

West of the center, Schloss Bellevue is the residence of the German President. Schloss Charlottenburg, which was burnt out in the Second World War and largely destroyed, has been rebuilt and is the largest surviving historical palace in Berlin.

Famous sights

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Inside the Reichstag glass dome

• The Fernsehturm (TV tower) at Alexanderplatz is the highest building in the city at 368 m, and the second largest structure in the EU. The Fernsehturm built in 1969 is easily visible throughout most of the central districts of Berlin. The entire city can be viewed from its 204-m (669 ft) high observation platform.
• Checkpoint Charlie, remains the site and a museum about one of the crossing points (albeit restricted to non-Germans and Allied forces) in the Berlin Wall. The museum, which is a private venture, exhibits a comprehensive array of material about people who devised ingenious plans to flee the East.

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

• East Side Gallery a memorial for freedom based on the last parts of the Berlin Wall
• Haus der Kulturen der Welt is presenting various exhibitions dealing with intercultural issues and stages also world music and conferences.
• Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, destroyed in World War II and left in ruins as a reminder of the horrors of war.
• Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a Holocaust memorial.
• Potsdamer Platz, an entire quarter built from scratch after 1995. The historic Potsdamer Platz was not rebuilt as it was divided by the Wall. A must-see for fans of modern city planning. Just to the West of Potsdamer Platz is the Kulturforum, which houses the Gemäldegalerie, and is flanked by the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Philharmonie.
• Rathaus Schöneberg, where John F. Kennedy made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner!" speech.
• Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall), historic town hall with its distinctive red-brick architecture

Panorama sites

Siegessäule

• Siegessäule —(Victory Column) monument to Prussia's victories at the Großer Stern situated in the Tiergarten Park where it was relocated in 1938–39 from its previous position in front of the Reichstag.
• Berliner Funkturm— the only observation tower in the world which stands on insulators. Its open-air observation deck is popular for photography.
• Französischer Dom —located on Gendarmenmarkt in the very heart of the city, the platform of the cathedral offers unique views.
• Bierpinsel—literally "Beer Brush". 1970s style tower in the Berlin Borough of Steglitz with a café and bar at the top giving views over south-western Berlin.
• Restaurant of the Forum Hotel Berlin
• Berliner Dom —Protestant cathedral situated next to the Lustgarten, with a circular observation platform around the dome.
• Bell tower at the Olympic Stadium —part of the Reichssportfeld complex, the tower offers a view of the Olympic Stadium and also of the Waldbühne, an open-air stage.

Boulevards, shopping

New Synagogue

• Unter den Linden a tree lined east-west avenue from the Brandenburg Gate to the site of the former and future Berlin City Palace, was fomerly Berlin´s premier promenade. After nearly sixteen years of renovation work, Unten den Linden has not yet recovered its previous glory. Many Classical buildings line the street. Part of Humboldt University is located there.
• Kurfürstendamm (Ku'damm), which suffered a downturn after re-unification, has once again become Berlin´s exclusive shopping-mile, and the home of Berlin´s luxury stores. At its eastern end on Breitscheidplatz, The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church), burnt out in World War II, has had its ruins preserved as a war memorial. Near by on Tauentzienstraße is Ka-De-We claimed to be continental Europes largest department store.
• Friedrichstraße, Berlin's legendary street of the Roaring Twenties (Goldene Zwanziger), combines twentieth Century tradition with the modern architecture of today's Berlin.
• Hackescher Markt, has become home to fashionable culture, with countless clothing outlets, clubs, bars, and galleries. This includes the Hackesche Höfe, a conglomeration of buildings around several courtyards, reconstructed around 1996. The nearby New Synagogue (built in the 1860s in Moorish style) on Oranienburger Straße,in an area left to delapidate during the East German period, has also become "trendy". This area was pre the Nazis(1933), a center of Jewish culture.
• The Straße des 17. Juni, another East-West avenue connecting the Brandenburg Gate and Ernst-Reuter-Platz, was extensively widened during the Nazi period as part of the Ost-West-Axis. Its current name commemorates the uprisings in East Berlin of 17 June 1953. Approximately half-way from the Brandenburg Gate is the Großer Stern, a circular island on which the Siegessäule is situated. This used to be the center stage for the Love Parade.
• The Karl-Marx-Allee (formerly Große Frankfurter Straße, later Stalinallee), between Mitte and Friedrichshain, a boulevard lined by architecturaly important buildings, designed in the Socialist Classicism Style of the Stalin era.

Infrastructure

Berlin Hauptbahnhof at the opening ceremony is the central rail hub of the city

As Germany's largest city, and one of the largest cities in Europe, Berlin developed a complex transportation and energy-supply infrastructure before World War II. After the war, West Berlin was cut off from the surrounding territory and had to develop independent infrastructures. Meanwhile, the government of East Germany purposely constructed rail lines and highways that allowed traffic to bypass West Berlin. The political reunification of East and West Berlin has led to the reintegration of Berlin's transportation and energy-supply with the infrastructures of the surrounding region.

Public transport, rail lines

The U-Bahn passes Oberbaum Brücke

Public transport within Berlin is provided by the S-Bahn—operated by S-Bahn Berlin GmbH—and by the U-Bahn, Straßenbahn, Bus, and ferries—operated by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, or BVG. The S-Bahn is a mostly overground urban railway system. The U-Bahn is the city's mainly underground rail, metro or subway system. The Straßenbahn or tram (trolley) system that operates almost exclusively in the eastern part of the city. Buses provide extensive service linking outlying districts with the city center and to the U-Bahn and S-Bahn. Almost all means of public transport—U- & S- Bahn, trams, buses and most ferries—can be accessed with the same ticket. Public transportation in Berlin works on a sort of honor system: There is no need to show or scan one's ticket, except buses. However, plainclothed transit authorities officials frequently conduct random checks in which they board a vehicle and demand that everyone onboard show their ticket. Anyone who does not produce a valid ticket is given a stiff fine.

The inner city is crossed from west to east by the elevated main line (Stadtbahn), which carries S-Bahn trains as well as regional and long-distance trains. This main line passes through most of the city's long-distance and regional train stations, including Berlin-Charlottenburg, Berlin Zoologischer Garten, Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Friedrichstraße, Alexanderplatz, and Berlin Ostbahnhof. Along the north-south axis, the U-Bahn 9 line carries the largest passenger volume, supplemented by the north-south line of the S-Bahn. The north-south and east-west lines of the S-Bahn cross at Friedrichstraße.

S-Bahn

The last key component of Berlin's rail network is the S-Bahn ring (Ringbahn) that forms a circle around the inner city and crosses the main line at Westkreuz (“west crossing”) and Ostkreuz (“east crossing”). A number of regional and regional express lines connect Berlin with the surrounding region. The city is also served by the freight rail yard at Seddin, south of Potsdam. Regional rail lines provide access to the surrounding region of Brandenburg and eastern Germany. Long-distance rail lines connect Berlin with all of the major cities of Germany and with many cities in neighboring European countries.

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Uberbahn.com Berlin Metro Google Map

There are useful online resources for getting around Berlin using public transport, such as the route planner or a map of the current public transport network, and Uberbahn.com a Google Map of the Transportation Network.

See also: List of Berlin metro stations

Motorways, canals, ports

Berlin Autobahn

Berlin's inner city is partly surrounded by a motorway (Autobahn), the A 100 Berliner Stadtring, that forms a half circle to the west of the center. There are plans to extend this motorway to form a full circle around the inner city. The A 10 Berliner Ring motorway which forms a full circle around the exterior of Berlin is known and signposted as the Berliner Ring. From the A 100, within the city, the following motorways extend outwards to the A 10 and beyond:

• A 111 to the northwest (toward Hamburg and Rostock)
• A 113 to the southeast (toward Dresden and Cottbus). This motorway currently begins in the south-eastern part of Berlin. By 2007, the connection to the A 100, currently under construction, should be complete.
• A 115 to the southwest (toward Hanover and Leipzig). The segment of this motorway inside the A 10 is still commonly known as the Avus.
• A 114 runs from Pankow to and beyond the A 10 toward Szczecin in Poland.

Berlin is linked to the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the River Rhine by an extensive network of rivers and canals. The Elbe-Havel Kanal links the River Havel, flowing from Berlin, both with the River Elbe—which flows into the North Sea at Hamburg—and with the Mittellandkanal, which stretches across Germany to a network of canals that provide a link to the River Rhine. The Oder-Spree Kanal links Berlin's River Spree with the Oder River, which flows into the Baltic Sea near Szczecin.

The most important canals with Berlin run roughly east to west between the Rivers Spree and Havel. The canal system to the north of the Spree begins with the Berlin-Spandauer Schifffahrtskanal, which runs from the Spree near Hauptbahnhof to the edge of Charlottenburg, where it connects with the Westhafenkanal, which re-enters the Spree farther west in Charlottenburg, and with the Hohenzollernkanal, which runs to the River Havel above Spandau. The main canal to the south of the Spree is the Teltowkanal, which runs from an arm of the upper Spree south of Köpenick through the southern part of Berlin to an arm of the Havel just east of Potsdam. A shorter canal, the Landwehrkanal, parallels the Spree just to the south of the river. It begins at the Spree between Treptow and Kreuzberg and rejoins the Spree in Charlottenburg. The Neuköllner Schifffahrtskanal connects the Landwehrkanal with the Teltowkanal; while the Britzer Zweigkanal connects the Teltowkanal with the Spree at Baumschulenweg.

Berlin's largest port is the Westhafen (“west port”), in Moabit (Mitte), with an area of 173,000 m² (42.75 acres). It lies at the intersection of the Berlin-Spandauer Schifffahrtskanal, the Westhafenkanal, and the Hohenzollernkanal. It handles the shipping of grain and pieced and heavy goods. The Südhafen (“south port”), which actually lies along the Havel in Spandau, in far western Berlin, covers an area of about 103,000 m² (25.5 acres) and also handles the shipping of pieced and heavy goods. The Osthafen (“east port”), with an area of 57,500 m² (14.2 acres), lies along the Spree in Friedrichshain. The Hafen Neukölln, with only 19,000 m² (4.7 acres), is located along the Neuköllner Schifffahrtskanal in Neukölln. It handles the shipping of building materials.

Airports

Tegel International Airport is Berlin's busiest airport

Berlin has three commercial airports—Tegel International Airport (TXL), Tempelhof International Airport (THF), and Schönefeld International Airport (SXF). Schönefeld lies just outside Berlin's south-eastern border in the state of Brandenburg, while the other two airports lie within the city. Tempelhof handles only short-distance and commuter flights, and there are plans to close the airport and transfer its traffic to Berlin's other two airports. There are longer-term plans to close Tegel as well. Schönefeld is currently undergoing expansion. Berlin's airport authority aims to transfer all of Berlin's air traffic in 2011 to a greatly expanded airport at Schönefeld, to be renamed Berlin Brandenburg International Airport. For more information on Berlin's airports, see the website of Berlin Airports.

Power supply

Heizkraftwerk Mitte

During the division of Berlin, the power grid of West Berlin was cut off from the power grid of the surrounding area in East Germany. West Berlin's electricity supply was provided by thermal power stations (Reuter, Wilmersdorf, etc.). To facilitate buffering during load peaks, accumulators were installed during the 1980s at some of these power stations. These were connected by static inverters to the power grid and were loaded during times of low power consumption and unloaded during times of high consumption. In 1993 the power connections to the surrounding areas (previously in East Germany) which had been capped in 1951 were restored. In the western districts of Berlin nearly all power lines are underground cables—only a 380 kV and a 110 kV line, which run from Reuter substation to the urban Autobahn, use overhead lines. The Berlin 380 kV electric line was constructed when West Berlin's electrical system was a totally independent system and not connected to those of East or West Germany. This has now become the backbone of the whole city's power system.

Berlin's power supply is mainly, although not exclusively, provided by the Swedish firm Vattenfall. The company has come under criticism for relying more heavily than other electricity producers in Germany on lignite (brown coal) as an energy source, because burning lignite produces harmful emissions. However, Vattenfall has announced a commitment to shift towards reliance on cleaner, renewable energy sources.

See also: Radio and telecommunication in Berlin

Quotes featuring Berlin

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John F. Kennedy

"Ich bin ein Berliner."
(John F. Kennedy, President of the USA, 1963 while visiting Berlin)

"Berlin ist arm, aber sexy." ("Berlin is poor, but sexy.")
(Klaus Wowereit, Governing Mayor, in a television interview, 2004)

"Ihr Völker der Welt ... schaut auf diese Stadt!" ("Peoples of the world ... look at this city!")
(Ernst Reuter, Governing Mayor, during the Berlin blockade, 1948)

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
(Ronald Reagan, President of the United States, speech at the Brandenburg Gate, 1987)

"Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin" ("I still keep a suitcase in Berlin")
(Marlene Dietrich, actress and singer born 1901 in Berlin-Schöneberg)

"Paris is always Paris and Berlin is never Berlin!"
(Jack Lang, French former culture minister, talking about how fast Berlin is changing, 2001)

"What could have possessed people to found a city in the middle of all this sand?"
(Stendhal, French writer who traveled extensively in Germany and elsewhere)

"Berlin ist eine Stadt, die nie ist, sondern immer nur wird." ("Berlin is a city that never is, but is always becoming.")
(Karl Scheffler, author of Berlin: Ein Stadtschicksal)

“Berlin combines the culture of New York, the traffic system of Tokyo, the nature of Seattle, and the historical treasures of, well, Berlin.”
(Hiroshi Motomura, US Law professor, 2004)

References

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Checkpoint Charlie

• Gross, Leonard, The Last Jews in Berlin. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982.
• Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census. Lewiston, N.Y.: St. Davids University Press, 1987.
• Ribbe, Wolfgang (editor), Geschichte Berlins (2 volumes). Munich: C.H. Beck, 1987.
• Gwertzman, M. Kaufman, The Collapse of Communism, 1990
• Read, Anthony, and David Fisher, Berlin Rising: Biography of a City. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994.
• Large, David Clay, Berlin. New York: Basic Books, 2000.

External links

• Official Website
• Alt-Berlin – Extensive archive of historical maps of Berlin, from 1738 to the present day
• EXBERLINER – monthly magazine for English speakers
• Architecture of Berlin
• Berlin statistics (in German)
• City Panoramas – Panoramic Views of Berlin's Highlights
• Comparison of historic layouts of the city
• Western Allies Berlin – History of the western allies in Berlin from 1945 to 1994
• Agreement to divide Berlin
• Uberbahn.com A Google Map of the Berlin Metro System