West Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949
and 1990. It consisted of the American, British and French allied sectors
that were installed in 1945. The Soviet sector became East Berlin, part of
East Germany.
West Berlin was surrounded entirely by the Soviet sectors and so was an
exclave. The western allies were guaranteed an air corridor, but not road or
rail access, and so in response to a currency reform in the western sectors,
the Soviets was able to cut off ground access to West Berlin, which had been
granted on an informal basis before. The Berlin Airlift was succesful at
persuading the Soviets to back down.
On August 13, 1961 the East German government built the Berlin Wall, thus
physically closing off West Berlin from East Germany. It was still possible
to travel from West Berlin to West Germany Only on November 9, 1989 the wall
was opened.
Although West Berlin was de facto part of West Germany, it was not
considered to be a Bundesland, nor part of one, and the Grundgesetz had no
application there. Instead, it was administered by the West Berlin Senate at
Rathaus Schšneberg, given its authority by the occupying forces. Although
West Berliners were citizens of the Federal Republic, they were not elegible
to vote in federal elections. Instead, they were indirectly represented in
the Bundestag by 20 non-voting delegates chosen by the West Berlin House of
Representatives. Similarly, the West Berlin Senate sent non-voting delegates
to the Bundesrat. Another anomaly was the fact that West Berlin had a
separate postal administration from West Germany and issued its own stamps
until 1990.
West Berlin comprised the following boroughs -
In the American Sector
* Neukšlln
* Kreuzberg
* Schšneberg
* Steglitz
* Tempelhof
* Zehlendorf
In the British Sector
* Charlottenberg
* Tiergarten
* Wilmersdorf
* Spandau
In the French Sector
* Reinickendorf
* Wedding
On October 3, 1990 West Germany and East Germany were united, thus formally
ending the existence of West Berlin.
