WestBerlijn

WestBerlijn, in English West Berlin, referred to the western sectors of the German capital Berlin during the Cold War. After World War II, the city was divided into four sectors controlled by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union; West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French sectors. Although geographically inside East Germany, West Berlin remained tied to the Western Allies and had its own administration and political institutions. The border between West Berlin and East Germany separated the city from East Berlin, and West Berlin was connected to West Germany by air corridors and a set of overland transit routes.

During the Cold War, West Berlin became a symbol of Western democracy and a hub of economic and cultural life despite its isolations. The 1948-49 Berlin Airlift, organized by the Allies, ensured the sustenance of the city when the Soviet blockade aimed to cut it off. The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 sealed the physical division between East and West for nearly three decades, until its fall in 1989. In 1990, German reunification brought West Berlin into the enlarged capital Berlin; on 3 October 1990 the city became part of a single German state.

Population in the 1980s was around two million residents, and West Berlin developed as a center for politics, higher education, media, and culture, with a strong international presence. Today, the areas formerly known as West Berlin are part of the modern city of Berlin in the federal republic of Germany, retaining a distinct historical identity as the western part of the divided city.