BERLIN

The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany. capital and chief urban centre of Germany. The city lies at the heart of the North German Plain, athwart an east-west commercial and geographic axis that helped make it the capital of the kingdom of Prussia and then, from 1871, of a unified Germany. Berlin's former glory ended in 1945, but the city survived the destruction of World War II. It was rebuilt and came to show amazing economic and cultural growth. Germany's division after the war put Berlin entirely within the territory of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany). The city itself echoed the national partitionEast Berlin being the capital of East Germany and West Berlin a Land, or state, of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, or West Germany). West Berlin's isolation was later reinforced by the concrete barrier erected in 1961 and known as the Berlin Wall. Its status as an enclave made Berlin a continuous focus of confrontation between the Eastern and Western powers as well as a symbol of Western life-style for 45 years. The fall of the East German communist regimeand the accompanying opening of the wallin late 1989 unexpectedly raised the prospect for Berlin's reinstatement as the all-German capital. That status was restored in 1990 under the terms of the unification treaty, and subsequently Berlin was designated a Land, one of the 16 constituting Germany. These developments heralded the city's return to its historic position of prominence in European culture and commerce. chief city and capital of Germany from 1871 to 1945 and from 1990. It was also, from 1990, a Land (state), the third smallest in area of the 16 German Lnder. Berlin was divided into East and West Berlin from the end of World War II until the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990. Berlin is located in the eastern portion of Germany at a point about 165 miles (265 km) southeast of Hamburg and about 35 miles (55 km) west of the Polish border. It lies in the wide glacial valley of the Spree River, which runs through the centre of the city. Its elevation is about 115 feet (35 m) above sea level. A chain of lakes formed by the Havel River touches the city's western outskirts. The town of Berlin became the capital of the mark of Brandenburg at the end of the 15th century and later became the capital of the kingdom of Prussia. When the various German states united to form the German Empire in 1871 and the king of Prussia became the new nation's emperor, Berlin became the capital of Germany as well as of the kingdom (from 191947 the Land) of Prussia. The city was the capital of Germany until the end of World War II, when its division into separate Soviet- and Western- (i.e., British, French, and American) occupied sectors mirrored the victorious Allies' apportionment of Germany itself into different zones of occupation. In 1949 the Western powers sponsored the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany, and the Soviets likewise approved the formation of the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany. The latter consisted of the easternmost third of Germany and contained the city of Berlin at its near-centre. But the western half of Berlin itself had meanwhile remained under the administration of the Western powers, and it thus became a part of West Germany, despite its physical isolation from that nation. (Berlin lay 110 miles east of the East-West German border.) West Berlin became a Land of West Germany, although constitutionally not a constituent part of West Germany. East Berlin became the capital of East Germany. From 1961 to 1989, East and West Berlin were physically separated from each other by the Berlin Wall, which was erected by the East German government to prevent unauthorized movements between the two parts of the city, especially the flow of East Germans to the West. The political and physical division of Berlin continued until late 1989, when East Germany's communist government collapsed in the face of popular unrest and the Soviet Union withdrew its support. In the following months the Berlin Wall was dismantled, and in the summer of 1990 the West and East German governments agreed to make the city of Berlin the official capital of a reunified Germany. Reunification of the two Germanys took place several months later. Government service has been the single most important economic activity throughout most of Berlin's history. The city's traditional industries include textiles, metalwork, machinery, porcelain and china, and publishing. The manufacture of electronics, clothing, cigarettes, and bicycles are also important. Large sections of Berlin were destroyed by Allied bombing raids during World War II, but the city's durability was demonstrated in the vast reconstruction efforts undertaken after the war. The erection of modern buildings and the restoration of historic ones have helped Berlin maintain its position as the most populous German city. Some of the notable buildings in the western part of the city are the Charlottenburg Palace, the restored Reichstag building, and the Philharmonic Hall. One of the city's most famous avenues is Unter den Linden, leading to the Brandenburg Gate. Another major thoroughfare is Kurfrstendamm, with its many shops. Several buildings ruined in World War II have been preserved to serve as war memorials: among these are the main tower of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and the walls of Nikolai Church. Berlin has traditionally played a leading role in German education. Humboldt University of Berlin (formerly known as the University of Berlin, or Friedrich Wilhelm University) is located in the eastern part of the city. The Free University was founded in 1948 in what was then West Berlin. Berlin lies at the centre of a great system of canals, and it has one of Europe's finest subway systems (the Untergrundbahn, or U-bahn), as well as the Stadtbahn (S-bahn) elevated railway system. The Reichsautobahn is the city's superhighway terminus. Tegel and Berlin-Schnefeld airports handle international flights. Area 341 square miles (883 square km). Pop. (1989 est.) 3,352,848. town (township), Hartford county, central Connecticut, U.S., on the Mattabesset River, just southeast of New Britain. It includes the villages of East Berlin and Kensington. The first white settler was Richard Beckley of New Haven, who established Beckley's Quarter in 1660. Formerly called Kensington, the area was incorporated as a town from parts of Farmington, Middletown, and Wethersfield in 1785 and was renamed for the city of Berlin, Ger. (then in Prussia). It was an early industrial town; manufactures included pistols, implements, wagons, spectacles, leather, and thread. The first American tinware was made there in 1740 by Edward and William Pattison, who were the first of New England's itinerant Yankee peddlers. A diversified manufacturing economy now prevails. Area 27 square miles (69 square km). Pop. (1990) 16,787; (1996 est.) 17,197. city, Coos county, northern New Hampshire, U.S., at the falls of the Androscoggin River and on the northern rim of the White Mountains. Chartered in 1771 as Maynesborough, it was not settled until 1821. It was renamed for the city of Berlin (then in Prussia) in 1829. Available waterpower prompted development of the lumber and pulp industry in 1825. Pulp and paper mills remain the economic mainstay of the area. The Nansen Ski Jump, built in 1936, is one of the highest steel tower jumps in the United States. Berlin is just north of White Mountain National Forest. Milan Hill State Park is nearby. The city is home to a branch of New Hampshire Technical College (founded 1966). Inc. town, 1829; city, 1897. Pop. (1990) 11,824; (1996 est.) 10,669. Additional reading Gerhard Kirchhoff (ed.), Views of Berlin (1989), offers a general description. The city's architecture and antiquities are described in detail in Doug Clelland (ed.), Berlin: An Architectural History (1983); Alan Balfour, Berlin: The Politics of Order, 17371989 (1990), on the successive rebuildings of Potsdamer Platz and Leipziger Platz; Tilmann Buddensieg (ed.), Berlin, 19001933: Architecture and Design (1987); Richard Schneider (ed.), Historische Sttten in Berlin: Historic Places in Berlin, 2nd ed. (1991), in German and English; Alex Scobie, Hitler's State Architecture: The Impact of Classical Antiquity (1990); and Stephen D. Helmer, Hitler's Berlin: The Speer Plans for Reshaping the Central City (1985). Aspects of Berlin's society are addressed in Anne Armstrong, Berliners: Both Sides of the Wall (1973); Deborah Hertz, Jewish High Society in Old Regime Berlin (1988); Susan Neiman, Slow Fire: Jewish Notes from Berlin (1992); Richard L. Merritt and Anna J. Merritt (eds.), Living with the Wall: West Berlin, 19611985 (1985); and Walter Henry Nelson, The Berliners (1969). Politics, polity, and administration, both historical and present-day, are the subject of John W. Keller, Germany, the Wall, and Berlin: Internal Politics During an International Crisis (1964); I.D. Hendry and M.C. Wood, The Legal Status of Berlin (1987); Sabra Holbrock, Capital Without a Country: The Challenge of Berlin (1961); David M. Keithly, Breakthrough in the Ostpolitik: The 1971 Quadripartite Agreement (1986); Ronald A. Francisco and Richard L. Merritt (eds.), Berlin Between Two Worlds (1986); James S. Sutterlin and David Klein, Berlin: From Symbol of Confrontation to Keystone of Stability (1989); and John Borneman, After the Wall: East Meets West in the New Berlin (1991). Cultural life is explored in Roy F. Allen, Literary Life in German Expressionism and the Berlin Circles (1983); Peter Paret, The Berlin Secession: Modernism and Its Enemies in Imperial Germany (1980); Thomas Friedrich, Berlin Between the Wars (1991); Charles W. Haxthausen and Heidrun Suhr (eds.), Berlin: Culture and Metropolis (1990); and James F. Tent, The Free University of Berlin: A Political History (1988). The city's history is chronicled in Questions on German History: Ideas, Forces, Decisions from 1800 to the Present, trans. from German, 3rd updated ed. (1989), the catalog of a historical exhibition organized by the German Bundestag; Alexander Reissner, Berlin, 16751945: The Rise and Fall of a Metropolis (1984); Phillip Windsor, City on Leave: A History of Berlin, 19451962 (1963); Mark Arnold-Forster, The Siege of Berlin (1979); Lucius D. Clay, Decision in Germany (1950, reissued 1970); Richard Collier, Bridge Across the Sky: The Berlin Blockade and Airlift, 19481949 (1978); Avi Shlaim, The United States and the Berlin Blockade, 19481949: A Study in Crisis Decision-Making (1983); Curtis Cate, The Ides of August: The Berlin Wall Crisis1961 (1978); Norman Gelb, The Berlin Wall: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and a Showdown in the Heart of Europe (1986); Robert M. Slusser, The Berlin Crisis of 1961: Soviet-American Relations and the Struggle for Power in the Kremlin, JuneNovember 1961 (1973); Dennis L. Bark, Agreement on Berlin: A Study of the 197072 Quadripartite Negotiations (1974); Daniel J. Nelson, Wartime Origins of the Berlin Dilemma (1978); and Robert Darnton, Berlin Journal, 19891990 (1991). Hubert Joseph Erb Lutz R. Reuter