Berlin during second world war and at present

On 4th October morning we were told to pack our bags for Berlin-the capital of the Federal Government of Germany. Berlin is about two hours journey from Hanover. In Berlin we were lodged in a Hotel in former East Berlin which was very close to the Berlin tower. This tower has a revolving restaurant. I was told that a person sitting in the restaurant comes back to his own former place and point after the lapse of exactly one-hour. Fantastic indeed. This tower has TV antenna, which was constructed by the then rulers of Eastern Berlin.

Berlin has a long checkered history which is a matter of pride for the Berliners. This city on the banks of the Spree River flourished to this stage in stages. A fishing town and a trading center in the beginning , Berlin later became the Prussian capital . The most devastating moments for Berlin came during the Second World War unleashed by the National Socialists which resulted in the near total destruction of the city center and its industrial districts. After the war, the city was mercilessly divided in to four sectors by the victorious powers. In 1948/49 the then USSR imposed an eleven month blockade of the land routes to Berlin in an attempt to bring the people of Berlin to their knees and force the Western allied powers to withdraw from the city. However, the western alliance saved the Berliners by airlifting the goods to the city.

Berlin, from 1871 to 1945 remained the capital of the German Empire. It was divided between East and West by a wall and barbed wire as the consequence of the World War 11. To stem the mass exodus of the people from the East, the GDR side began the construction of the wall in 1961. In 1949, Bonn became the "provisional capital" of the Federal Republic-West Germany as it was called- and the other half of Berlin became the capital of the GDR-German Democratic Republic. On June 17 1953, there was a popular uprising in East Berlin and the GDR against communist rule and in the support of German unity. However it failed.

After the World War 11, two different systems stood opposite one another on German soil. The GDR was founded in 1949 which was a dictatorship and largely controlled by the Moscow regime till the collapse of the GDR.

Germany was divided into occupation zones, except for Greater Berlin, which was treated as a special area and placed under joint control. It was soon transpired that the victorious powers were unable to agree on a common occupation policy. The Soviet Union continued balking tactics in the Allied Kommandatura which was responsible for the four-power administration of Berlin. There, too, essential decisions were blocked and in August 1948, the USSR delegation walked out from the talks. Nonetheless, the USSR announced on 23 June a separate currency for its zone and the whole of Berlin. The western city commandants declared this order to be illegal and therefore null and void and on June 24 introduced the Western currency in the Western sectors of Berlin as well. Hence there existed two currencies, not only in Germany, but in the city of Berlin which up to that point was undivided. Strictly speaking, this was the natural result of the fact that two diametrically opposed economic systems had emerged, the market economy in the West and the planned economy in the East but basically it all stemmed from the ideological clash of two different social systems.

As communism was being rejected in East Germany, talks began concerning German unification. At a meeting in Ottawa, February 1990, the foreign ministers of the World War 11 "Big Four" allied nations and East Germany and West Germany reached an agreement on a format for high level talks on unification. In May, NATO ministers adopted a package of proposals on reunification including the inclusion of the united Germany as a full member of NATO and the barring of the new Germany from having its own nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. In July, the USSR agreed to conditions that would allow Germany to become a member of NATO alliance.

The two nations agreed to monetary unification under the West German Mark beginning in July. The merger of the 2 Germanys took place October 3 and the first all German elections since 1932 were held December 2.

The regaining of Germany’s national unity in 1990 was preceded by a revolution that was without historical parallel, for it took place peacefully and without any bloodshed.

Personal meetings between Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan in Geneva and Rekyavik at various places that time confirmed that Wast and West were ready for a constructive dialogue on unification of Germany. The general climate of détente led to increasing demands for reforms in the GDR leading to several demonstrations. The Monday demonstrations in Leipzig drew large crowds. Under the pressure of the unfolding events, the GDR council of ministers resigned enmasse. On March 18 1990, the first free elections were held in the GDR. They resulted in the formation of a grand coalition comprised of the Alliance for Germany. In August the Volkskammer-the GDR parliament- voted in favor of the accession of the GDR to the FRG as soon as possible. On 31 August 1990, the Unification treaty was signed. Thus on 3 October 1990, the GDR acceded to the Federal Republic. This day is called the Day of German Unity. Berlin was made the capital again and at the moment most of the important bodies of the government are already in place in Berlin from Bonn.

Heavy investments are seen pouring in the former East Berlin to bring it at par with the progress in the Western Berlin to what it possesses today. However, development takes time. Additional efforts will be perhaps necessary in the coming years in order to ensure a uniformly high quality of life in east and the west. This is what a foreign ministry diplomat told me on 4th October at a luncheon organized by the Federal Government in Berlin. The East Berlin is being given a new face-lift. The new Berlin in the middle of a new, bigger Europe is a strategically ideal location for companies operating on an international level. The emerging Europe over the next decade will be shaped by how the east and west parts of the continent grow together. For breaking new markets, Berlin offers the highest level of competence. Since the fall of the wall and the bitter years of division, Berlin has renewed itself from the ground up in a very short span of time.

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