Everything about Berlin totally explained
Berlin is the
capital city and one of sixteen
states of
Germany. With a population of 3.4 million in its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city. It is the second
most populous city and the ninth
most populous urban area in the
European Union. Located in northeastern Germany, it's the center of the Berlin-
Brandenburg metropolitan area, comprising 5 million people from over 180 nations.
First documented in the 13th century, Berlin was successively the capital of the
Kingdom of Prussia (1701-1918), the
German Empire (1871-1918), the
Weimar Republic (1919-1933) and the
Third Reich (1933-1945). After the
Second World War, the city was divided;
East Berlin became the capital of
East Germany while
West Berlin became a
Western enclave, surrounded by the
Berlin Wall from 1961-1989. Following the
reunification of Germany in 1990, the city regained its status as the capital of all Germany.
Berlin is a major center in
European politics,
culture,
media, and
science. It serves as a continental hub for air and rail transport. The city's economy is primarily based on the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of
creative industries, media corporations, environmental services, congress and convention venues. Berlin is the third most-visited
tourist destination in the EU. Other industries include
traffic engineering,
optoelectronics,
IT,
vehicle manufacturing,
health care,
biomedical engineering, and
biotechnology.
The
metropolis is home to world-renowned universities, research institutes, sporting events, orchestras, museums and personalities. Berlin's urban landscape and historical legacy has made it a popular setting for international film productions. Recognized for its festivals, contemporary architecture, nightlife and avant-garde arts,
Berlin has evolved into a focal point for individuals attracted by
liberal lifestyle, modern
zeitgeist and low
cost of living.
History
The name
Berlin, which is in
English and in
German, is of unknown origin, but may be related to the Old
Polabian stem
berl-/
birl- "swamp".
The earliest evidence of Berlin is an artifact dated approximately 45 years before the official founding of the city. A wooden beam from a cellar near the (demolished) Petrikirche in Petriplatz, which is now located in Berlin's
Mitte District but was originally part of
Cölln, has been dated to 1157. The first written mention of towns in the area of present-day Berlin dates from the late 12th and early 13th century. The
suburb of
Spandau is first mentioned in 1197, and
Köpenick in 1209, though these areas didn't 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 that references a priest at Petrikirche.
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. The allies successfully overcame the Blockade by airlifting food and other supplies into the city from
24 June 1948 to
11 May 1949. In 1949, the
Federal Republic of Germany was founded in
West Germany and consisted of the American, British and French zones, but excluded those 3 countries' zones of Berlin, while the
Marxist-Leninist German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in
East Germany. West Berlin remained a free city that was separate from the Federal Republic of Germany, and issued its own postage stamps. Airline service to West Berlin was granted only to American, British and French airlines. Lufthansa and other German airlines were prohibited from flying to West Berlin.
The founding of the two German states increased
Cold War tensions. West Berlin was surrounded by East German territory. East Germany, however, proclaimed East Berlin (which it described only as "Berlin") as its capital, a move that wasn't recognized by the Western powers. Although half the size and population of West Berlin, it included most of the historic center of the city. The tensions between east and west culminated in the construction of the
Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin and other barriers around West Berlin by 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 with a unique legal status, while East Berlin was de facto a part of East Germany.
Berlin was 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, a
Four-Power agreement guaranteed access across East Germany to West Berlin and ended the potential for harassment or closure of the routes.
In 1989, pressure from the East German population brought a transition to a market-based economy in East Germany, and its citizens gained free access across the Berlin Wall on
9 November 1989, which was subsequently mostly demolished. Not much is left of it today; the
East Side Gallery in
Friedrichshain near the
Oberbaumbrücke over the
Spree preserves a portion of the Wall.
On
3 October 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 1999, the
German parliament and government began their work in Berlin.
Recreation
Zoologischer Garten Berlin, the older of two zoos in the city, was founded in 1844, and presents the most diverse range of species in the world. It is the home of the captive-born
polar bear Knut, born in December 2006. He is currently the subject of international popularity and controversy. 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 Botanischer Garten includes the Botanic Museum Berlin. With an area of 43
hectares (106
acres) and around 22,000 different plant species it's one of the largest and most diverse gardens in the world.
The
Tiergarten (Animal Garden) is Berlin's largest
park located in
Mitte 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 covers a
Second World War bunker and rubble from the ruins of the city; at its foot is Germany's main
memorial to
Polish soldiers.
Berlin is known for its numerous beach bars along the river Spree. Together with the countless cafés, restaurants and green spaces in all districts, they create an important source of recreation and leisure time.
Sports
Berlin hosted the
1936 Olympics and was the host city for the
2006 FIFA World Cup Final. The
IAAF World Championships in Athletics will be held in the
Olympiastadion in 2009. 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's one of the oldest tennis tournaments for women. The
FIVB World Tour has chosen an inner-city site near
Alexanderplatz to present a
beach volleyball 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"), which won the national championships every year from 1997 to 2003. Berlin is also home to the
Eisbären Berlin of the
German Ice Hockey League, an ice hockey team which was founded in the
East German era.
Infrastructure
Berlin developed a complex transportation and energy-supply infrastructure before the Second World War. After the war, West Berlin was cut off from the surrounding territory and had to develop independent infrastructures. Meanwhile, the government of East Germany purposefully constructed rail lines and motorways 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.
Crossing 979 bridges, of roads run through Berlin, of which are motorways. In 2004, 1.428 million motor vehicles, including 6,800
taxis, were registered in the city.
The second 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 regions. The last one is the S-Bahn connection from South to North stopping at Südkreuz and Gesundbrunnen, two of the largest train stations in Berlin. The city is also served by the freight rail yard at Seddin, south of Potsdam.
Berlin has three commercial airports.
Tegel International Airport (TXL),
Tempelhof International Airport (THF), and
Schönefeld International Airport (SXF) handled over 20 million passengers in 2007 and served 173 destinations (01/2008) - 128 of them in Europe. 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 shorter distance and commuter flights, and there are plans to close the airport and transfer its traffic to Schönefeld Airport. 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.
Utilities
Berlin's power supply is mainly provided by the Swedish firm
Vattenfall and is relying more heavily than other electricity producers in Germany on
lignite as an energy source. Because burning lignite produces harmful emissions, Vattenfall has announced a commitment to shift towards reliance on cleaner,
renewable energy sources. During the division of Berlin, the power grid of West Berlin was cut off from the power grid of the surrounding areas in
East Germany. West Berlin's
electricity supply was provided by thermal
power stations. 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, 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.
Health system
Berlin has a long tradition as a city of medicine and medical technology. The Berlin Charité Hospital is the largest
university hospital in Europe. It is a joint institution of the
Free University of Berlin and the
Humboldt University of Berlin, including a wide range of institutes and medical competence centers. Among them are the German Heart Center, one of the most renowned transplantation centers, the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine and the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics. Scientific research is complemented by many industry research departments of companies such as Siemens, Schering or debis. The history of medicine has been widely influenced by scientists from Berlin:
Rudolf Virchow, the founder of cellular pathology,
Ferdinand Sauerbruch, most famous surgeon of the first half of the 20th century or
Robert Koch, discoverer of the
anthrax bacillus, the
tuberculosis bacillus and the
cholera bacillus.
Berlin quotations
"Berlin ist arm, aber sexy." ("Berlin is poor, but sexy.")
(Klaus Wowereit, Governing Mayor, in a press interview, 2003)
"Berlin wird leben und die Mauer wird fallen." ("Berlin will live and the wall will come down.")
(Willy Brandt, Former Governing Mayor of West Berlin and chancellor of Germany, November 10, 1989)
“The greatest cultural extravaganza that one could imagine..”
(David Bowie, singer, on 1970s Berlin)
"Ich bin ein Berliner." ("I am a citizen of Berlin")
(John F. Kennedy, President of the United States, 1963 while visiting Berlin)
"Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin" ("I still have a suitcase in Berlin")
(Marlene Dietrich, song by the actress and singer born in Berlin-Schöneberg, 1951)
"“Berlin ist eine Stadt, verdammt dazu, ewig zu werden, niemals zu sein” ("Berlin is a city condemned forever to becoming and never being.")
(Karl Scheffler, author of Berlin: Ein Stadtschicksal, 1910)Further Information
Get more info on 'Berlin'.
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