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Late April
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September - Soviets force the Berlin city council (Stadtverordentenverwaltung) to leave the “Red City Hall” (Rotes Rathaus, named for its red brick exterior) in the east sector. The communists split Berlin with the proclamation of their own “magistrate.”
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he Soviet Union cuts off all land and water transit routes running between Berlin and West Germany, turning West Berlin into an isolated island surrounded by East Germany. With all land access now blocked, the Allies begin the Berlin Airlift (Luftbrücke) on June 26. For the next eleven months, Berlin is supplied only by aircraft. Everything, from coal to food, has to be airlifted into the city. Seen as a big Allied victory.
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The Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland, West Germany) is founded, followed by the creation of the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, East Germany) on October 7. The West German capital is Bonn, while East Germany declares East Berlin its capital city.
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Richard Millington expert - Workers go on strike to demand better working and living conditions, as well as free elections and unification. Soviet forces help the GDR brutally crush the revolt. Today Berlin’s Straße des 17. Juni is named for this historic uprising.
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The Allies proclaim Germany a sovereign state on
May 5, officially ending the occupation. -
Walter Ulbricht (1893-1973) becomes the head of the German Democratic Republic (Chairman of the Council of State of the GDR (Vorsitzender des Staatsrats der DDR). He is also the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).
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In an effort to stop the growing numbers of people leaving the GDR, Walter Ulbricht orders the construction of the Berlin Wall. Early on August 13, East German troops and workers begin stringing barbed wire and setting up barriers that will eventually become the Berlin Wall. The wall surrounding Berlin will extend 165 km (100 miles). Berlin is now a divided city and East Berlin is a prison from which its citizens can no longer escape.
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US president John F. Kennedy makes his now famous Berlin speech in front of the Schöneberg City Hall in the western half of the city: “All free men, wherever they live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, ‘Ich bin ein Berliner.’” In German this translates as something like "I am a donut".