environmental case study berlin - mcgraw-hillafter germany capitulated in 1945, the four allies...

Environmental Case Study Berlin

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I grew up in Berlin, Germany, one of the most fascinating cities in the world. I love Berlin, but it was not always easy to live there because Berlin was at the focus of the political and military division of Europe during the Cold War. From 1961 to 1989 the city was divided into a western and an eastern half, and West Berlin was completely enclosed by the Berlin Wall. Now that I am a geography professor I enjoy telling students about the history of Berlin. This is a personal story for me, as my family lived through many of the events I describe here. You will learn how my family experienced the developments in the short interview segments included in this text. I hope you'll be as fascinated by the events in Berlin as I am. Since the German Reich was founded under Bismarck in 1871, Germany had been considered a threat to its neighbor countries due to its political, economic and military strength. This fear was confirmed when Germany started the Second World War. Stalin (USSR), Roosevelt (USA) and Churchill (U.K.) agreed that the only way to control Germany was to divide it into three zones of occupation once it had been defeated in the war. The division of Germany into zones of occupation was formalized in the 1944 London Protocol; at the 1945 Yalta Conference it was decided that France would participate in the occupation as well. After Germany capitulated in 1945, the four Allies moved into their respective zones. Berlin, located in the Soviet occupation zone, was also divided into four sections—the so-called sectors. Berliners lived more than a hundred miles behind the Soviet lines, and were connected to West Germany through three railroad and highway corridors. The city of Berlin was jointly administered by the four Allies through the Allied Control Council. Almost immediately deep rifts developed between the Western Allies (USA, United Kingdom, and France) and the USSR, as they had different opinions about how to control Germany and carried out different reforms in their respective zones of occupation. For example, the USSR dismantled most industrial facilities in their zone as a form of reparation, and nationalized the remaining industries, while the Western Allies believed that Germany's economy had to be allowed to recover. Because there were concerns that the USSR might want to extend their influence to all of Germany, the Western Allies decided on closer cooperation in their zones. Furthermore, the US offered a far-reaching aid program known as the Marshall Plan to all states involved in the war in Europe, but due to increasing ideological differences between the USA and the USSR, only those states not under the influence of the USSR could accept the aid. The Marshall funds were a major contributor to the economic recovery of Western European states as well as the western zones of Germany. Berlin now increasingly became the focus of the rivalry between the Western Allies and the USSR. At a meeting of the Allied Control Council in 1948 tensions that had been building up between the eastern and western powers finally erupted with the Soviet delegate leaving the meeting. Shortly thereafter the three Western Allies proposed the creation of a German state in their zones of occupation and carried out a much-needed currency reform. The USSR responded with interrupting all land transportation routes to the Western sectors of Berlin, cutting off all supplies for roughly 2m people. For the Western Allies it was clear that Berlin could not be given up. US President Truman and General Clay understood that if Berlin was handed over to the Soviets, the USSR might soon take over the rest of Germany and probably extend its influence into Western Europe. President Truman formulated his position succinctly: "We stay in Berlin. Period." But how could 2m people be kept alive? Since all the land routes to Berlin were blocked (hence the name "Berlin Blockade"), the only way was to supply the city through the air. Berliners were convinced it would work: "The Allies had been able to drop so many bombs on Berlin, so they should also be able to drop potatoes." Two days after the Berlin Blockade began, the United States Air Force (USAF) began to airlift supplies into West Berlin. Soon the British Royal Air Force (RAF) as well as the French, South African and



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Australian air forces joined the effort. The nations involved in the Berlin Airlift freed up all planes they could from air bases around the world. For many people, the Berlin Airlift (Figures 1-3) is one of the most

Figure 1: Planes are lined up for unloading at Tempelhof Airport. On average it took workers about seven

minutes to unload a plane. (Source: Harry S. Truman Library)

Figure 2: This C-74, shown at Gatow Airport, was one of the largest planes used in the Berlin Airlift.

(Source: Harry S. Truman Library)



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Figure 3: The Western Allies could reach Berlin through three air corridors. Planes flew from West

German bases to West Berlin through the northern and southern corridors, and returned through the middle corridor.

(Source: Harry S. Truman Library) significant events in aviation history. Remember that this is 1948, a time when planes were flown without the aid of modern instrumentation!



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At the time when the Airlift began, West Berlin had two airports: the civilian airport Tempelhof, and the small military airport of Gatow. But even with upgrades (additional runways in Tempelhof; concrete runways replacing grass runways in Gatow), the capacity of the West Berlin airports was simply not sufficient. The only solution was to build a new airport—Tegel. If you fly into Tegel today, you probably won't be very impressed, but remember under what conditions it was built! Most construction materials as well as all the machinery had to be flown in. By December 1948 the new airport was fully operational. Most of the pilots who flew in the Airlift were quite young—the average age was 27. For many people the most amazing thing is that a significant number of these pilots had flown to Berlin before—during the Second World War, dropping the bombs that had almost completely destroyed the city. Now they risked their lives again—but not to fight against the Germans, but to ensure the survival of the West Berliners. For the Berliners, who had fled to the basements from the sound of airplanes during the air raids in the Second World War, the sound of airplanes was now a great comfort (Figure 4).

Figure 4: For many Berliners, watching the planes come in was a favorite pastime.

(Source: Harry S. Truman Library) Interview 1 - Dieter Alberts "When the Berlin Blockade happened I was about 12 years old. I lived with my parents in a suburb in the north of West Berlin. From our house we could see and hear the constant stream of planes coming in. In fact, close to our house was a tower that the pilots used as a marker to know when they had to turn to approach a particular airport. Sometimes we would take the local train to go to Tempelhof. There we saw how the planes landed, were unloaded and then took off a few minutes later. For us as young boys the airlift was exciting. We all had model airplanes made from whatever scrap materials we could find." Interview 2 - Gisela Alberts "During the Airlift food was rationed, so everything was scarce. My mother's friend was dating an



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American, so she had access to some things that you could not buy anywhere. One day this woman came to visit and brought me an orange. I had no idea what it was since I had never seen an orange. I thought it was a ball and started playing soccer with it." The most famous story of the Berlin Airlift is probably that of Lt. Gail Halvorsen, a young pilot who had the idea of dropping candy from his airplane when approaching the airport in Berlin (Figures 5 and 6).

Figure 5: Lt. Gail Halvorsen talks to children in Berlin.

(Source: Harry S. Truman Library)



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Figure 6: Lt. Halvorsen's bunk bed became the manufacturing site for the

little parachutes used for the candy. (Source: Harry S. Truman Library)

Many West Berliners remember these "Candy Bombers" with a lot of fondness—chocolate was something very special in the post-war years! The other remarkable story was that of the "Easter Parade", when the Western Allies decided to break all records to force the USSR to end the Berlin Blockade. On that day in April 1949, the Western Allies brought almost 13,000 tons of goods to Berlin on 1398 flights—every 31 seconds a plane landed in Berlin! As they hoped, this show of strength and resolve led to the USSR ending the Blockade. In total, the Allies flew 2,325,509 tons of goods to Berlin on 277,569 flights. In the end, the Berlin Blockade had the opposite effect from what the USSR had intended—rather than forcing the Western Allies to give up West Berlin, they motivated them to create a new West German state (the Federal Republic of Germany) in 1949. Soon after, the creation of the USSR's satellite state East Germany (the German Democratic Republic) was announced. When West Germany joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and East Germany the Warsaw Pact in 1955, the economic,



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political, and military division of Europe was complete. Germany, the only divided state, and Berlin, the divided city, became the focus of many Cold War activities. While there were two separate German states, the borders were not yet closed allowing people to freely travel from one country to the other. Especially in Berlin thousands of people crossed the border every day. But this was to end in 1961. Differences between the eastern and western halves of the city (and the countries) were increasingly evident, with the West going through an amazing economic recovery and enjoying political freedom, and the East remaining economically weak. Most important, however, was the lack of political freedom in the East. More and more people from the East moved to the West. In order to stop this exodus, the East German government, backed by the USSR, erected a Wall completely surrounding West Berlin. Interview 3 - Dieter Alberts "In 1961 we were on vacation in Austria when the construction of the Berlin Wall was announced. We were very concerned about whether we would be able to return to Berlin at all. We managed to get through, but it was difficult and the border guards gave us a hard time. I was a student at the time. When I came back to the university many of my friends were no longer there. They had commuted from East Berlin to avoid Communist indoctrination, but were now cut off from the West." The Wall disrupted life in the city. Transportation routes were cut, the windows of houses facing the Wall were bricked up, and families were separated (Figure 7).

Figure 7: This is the Brandenburg Gate located in the center of

the main boulevard running through Berlin. The Wall cut the boulevard in half. The Brandenburg Gate is considered an important symbol for

the division (and later reunification) of Berlin. (Source: Author's collection)

Of course Berliners did not simply put up with the division of their city. Hundreds risked their lives trying to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin by crashing vehicles through the border gates, digging tunnels under the Wall, flying hot air balloons or ultralight airplanes across the border, or hiding in vehicles or objects. In total, more than five thousand people managed to escape from East to West Berlin; eighty were killed in the attempt, and over a hundred injured (Figure 8).



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Figure 8: These crosses commemorate the people who lost

their lives trying to escape from East to West Berlin. (Source: Author's collection)

Several thousand people were stopped by the police and had to serve prison sentences for "illegally exiting the German Democratic Republic". Each successful escape attempt was celebrated in the West, but led to further fortifications of the border until West Berlin was completely sealed off. In effect, the Berlin Wall consisted of two walls, enclosing a space that became known as the death zone. It was guarded by armed guards stationed in watchtowers and patrolling the area, as well as by mines, dogs, and other devices (Figure 9).

Figure 9: At some points along the Wall there were platforms so that people could look from West Berlin across the death zone.

(Source: Author's collection)



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The 1960s were difficult for Berliners on both sides of the Wall. East Berliners, as well as East Germans more generally, had to live with the poor economic situation of their country resulting in shortages of food and consumer goods. However, hardest on them was the political oppression such as lack of freedom of expression and freedom to travel. West Berliners learnt to live with the Wall (Figure 10).

Figure 10: This is me standing in front of what people called

"the longest mural in the world" in the 1980s. Most of the Wall on the Western side was painted. (Source: Author's collection)

Even though they were not officially allowed to cross East German territory to get to West Germany, many did anyway. By the 1970s, politicians on both sides realized that the division of the country and the city was permanent and finally began to move away from confrontation towards an attempt to normalize relations. Part of these new policies was the 1972 Transit Treaty, which finally gave West Berliners the right to cross East German territory in order to get to West Germany and to visit their relatives in East Berlin (Figures 11 and 12).



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Figure 11: This is an original permit for entry into the GDR issued by the East German government about

a month before the Berlin Wall came down. (Source: Author's collection)



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Figure 12: This is the entry and exit card for one particular trip.

(Source: Author's collection) Interview 4 - Dieter Alberts "My wife's cousin Bärbel and her family lived in East Berlin. For many years we could not visit them at all. In 1972 the Transit Treaty was signed, and we could now apply to the East German government to visit the East for a day. The visa was valid for only one day, a specific location, and a specific family. When we crossed the border, the border guards always searched our car—we had to open the trunk and the hood, and the guards looked under the car with mirrors. They also opened presents. Once we triggered suspicions with a carton of laundry detergent and a T-shirt that was wrapped in gift paper. Another time they confiscated a catalogue of model cars we happened to have in the car. It was simply crazy!" Interview 5 - Gisela Alberts "When we applied for our permits to visit the East, we had to list exactly where we were going. We always put ‘East Berlin.' My cousin had a boat, so we would often spend the day on the boat. We had to be really careful not to leave East Berlin. It would have created quite a fuss had we been caught outside of East Berlin. We frequently heard about boaters or water skiers who had accidently crossed the border and were thrown in prison." Interview 6 - Dieter Alberts "Once when we visited my wife's cousin Bärbel and her family, her daughter Kerstin, who is about the same age as our daughter Heike, asked her parents why Heike can come and visit them, while they can never go to visit her. For her parents these were tough questions—what were they supposed to tell her?" East Germans, however, could only visit the West under very special circumstances, and they had to put up with even more censorship and control now that there were increasing contacts with people in the West. Interview 7 - Dieter Alberts "For grandpa's 80th birthday Bärbel and her husband Peter were allowed to come to West Berlin for a few days. Their children had to stay behind as kind of hostages to make sure that their parents would return. I went on a bike ride with Peter along the West Berlin - GDR border. Somewhere along the way we met a French border patrol who asked us for cigarettes. Peter could simply not believe it—here I was talking to the soldiers and they smiled at us, and they even accepted his East German cigarettes. He had been told all his life that these people were his enemies."



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In the 1980s things started to change rapidly. Developments that eventually led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the USSR began with Mikhail Gorbachev becoming the new Soviet leader. When Gorbachev implemented far-reaching political and economic reforms within the USSR, many states, such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, happily followed, but East German leader Erich Honecker declared that he would not allow reforms in East Germany. As a consequence, discontent increased, first leading to mass demonstrations in East Germany, and then to ever-swelling numbers of people escaping from East Germany to the West. There were two main escape routes through East Germany's neighbor countries. First, East Germans discovered that they could sneak across the border fence between Hungary and Austria, and reach West Germany this way. Faced with a difficult situation, Hungary decided to defy the wishes of their official ally East Germany and rather than preventing the East German escapes actually dismantled the border fence and encouraged East Germans to leave. Second, East Germans sought refuge in West German embassies in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and Warsaw, Poland. After lengthy negotiations, they were permitted to travel to West Germany in trains that became known as the Freedom Trains. The East German government now desperately tried to keep East Germans from fleeing to the West. Despite a change in government (the more moderate Egon Krenz replaced Erich Honecker) and promises for reforms, the population had lost all trust in their leadership and the pressure continued to mount. On November 9, 1989, government officials announced a proposal to allow unlimited travel. It was not made clear that this was a proposal rather than a law that was now in effect, so people congregated at the Berlin Wall and demanded to be let through to the West. At first, the East German border guards stamped identity cards, but soon they could only stand by and watch as tens of thousands of East Berliners flooded across the border into West Berlin. For most Berliners, however, the Berlin Wall had not really fallen until the Brandenburg Gate, formerly the symbol of the division of the city, had been opened (Figures 13-17).

Figure 13: This is my friend Anja at the Berlin Wall a few months after it was opened for the first time on November 9, 1989. When we were children, Anja and I used to play at the foot of the Wall. Now we wanted to come back and take photos of it because it

had already been decided that the Wall would be removed. (Source: Author's collection)



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Figure 14: This is my father trying to break pieces from the Wall. For most Berliners having their own piece of

the Berlin Wall is very important. (Source: Author's collection)

Figure 15: Once the Berlin Wall had been opened, people

tried to chip away pieces as souvenirs. Note the large holes in the Wall!




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Figure 16: After November 9, 1989, more and more checkpoints were opened, allowing people to cross to the other side. Each

opening was celebrated. Most people in this photo are standing on what used to be the death zone.


Figure 17: By late 1989, people could take walks on the

former death zone. (Source: Author's collection)

Less than a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, on October 3, 1990, the two Germanys once again became one country, and in 1991 Berlin was declared the capital of reunited Germany. From then on the



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city changed at incredible speed. Berliners had pecked holes in the Berlin Wall since November 1989, but now the Wall was removed completely. This opened up large tracts of land in the heart of the city that could be redeveloped. An entirely new government district was created as well as a large shopping and entertainment complex (Figures 18-20).

Figure 18: The Potsdamer Platz was once an important commercial center in Berlin.

When Berlin was divided, all buildings were torn down and the area lay mostly within

the death zone. After the Wall was destroyed, a new shopping and entertainment center was

built. (Source: Author's collection)



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Figure 19: This is the Reichstag building. It was partly destroyed in the Second World War. It has only recently been remodeled to

once again serve as the seat of the German government. (Source: Author's collection)

Figure 20: The most notable change is the construction of a new glass cupola on the Reichstag building (the old one was destroyed during the Second World War). It has become a

major tourist attraction. (Source: Author's collection)

Superficially the wounds of the division have healed, but it will probably still be decades before Berlin has truly grown back together again.

environmental case study berlin - mcgraw-hillafter germany capitulated in 1945, the four allies...

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