Berlin cultural definition

Capital of reunited Germany, located in the northeastern part of the country.

• Formerly the capital of Prussia and then of Germany, Berlin was occupied by American, British, French, and Soviet troops after World War II. Disagreements among the Allies led to the partition of the city, with the Soviet zone becoming East Berlin, and the other zones West Berlin. East Berlin became the capital of the communist German Democratic Republic (East Germany), but West Berlin lost its capital status to Bonn in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).
• The Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949 supplied West Berlin by air transport after the Soviet Union set up a land and water blockade in an attempt to gain political control of this noncommunist “island” in the midst of communist East Germany.
• The two Berlins were physically separated by the Berlin Wall (see also Berlin Wall), a barrier designed to prevent East Germans from crossing into West Berlin, from 1961 to 1989.
• With the reunification of the two Germanys in 1990, the reunified city of Berlin was restored to its place as Germany's capital.