An observer looking at a map of Europe during the past decades might be struck by an oddity; deep within Communist East Germany was an island of freedom, the city of Berlin.
This curiosity occurred at the end of World War II, when the four victors (the United States, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union) divided both Germany and Berlin into sections.
But West Berlin (the area controlled by the Americans, British and French) was deep in that part of Germany controlled by the Soviet Union, and this annoyed the Soviets considerably.
In 1948, they blocked the rail, water and highway routes into Berlin and set up their own mayor for the east part of the city. In 1958, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev demanded Western troops withdraw from Berlin. The West rejected the demand and refugees poured into the west zone. On Aug. 13, 1961, the East German police began building a wall between the two Berlins, thus sealing the border.
This wall cut the city in two until November 1989. Then, faced with huge demonstrations, the East German government opened its border. Revelers stood on top of the wall and celebrated their freedom. Soon the East German government collapsed and in 1990 Germany -- and Berlin -- were reunified.
