History before the founding of the city

From the foundation to the edict of Potsdam

Prussian kingdom and German empire

The Weimar Republic and the Third Reich

The postwar time, partition, reunion and the presence


by Christian Kopf


The emperor resigned after massive strikes and demonstrations in November 1918, after the so called November revolution, the socialist Philipp Scheidemann and the communist Karl Liebknecht announced the German Republic at the same time from different places. In the following times conservative forces were involved in street violence with the socialists and communists.

In 1919 a communist revolt failed as well as nationalist revolt 1920.

Berlin 1908 A.D.

In October of 1920 everything that had been included in Big Berlin and additional to that many villages in the area became a part of Berlin. The number of inhabitants rises to 3.800.000. Due to the high number of reparations the new German Republic had to pay to the winners of the war, the country and the city of Berlin were very poor. The attempt to solve the problem with the printing of money led to a high inflation rate. Especially the poorer parts of the population suffered under the consequences. An improved finance policy and contracts with the war winners led to a better situation. From 1934 the so called golden twenties began. Berlin rose to a big industrial town and an important cultural centre in Europe. Important personalities like Albert Einstein, Marlene Dietrich and Kurt Tucholsky lived and worked in Berlin. In 1924 the Berlin Airport Tempelhof is opened, the famous radio exhibition is held for the first time and Berlin became the second biggest river harbour in Germany. Also all the trains inside of the city and to the suburban areas were electrified and unified under the name S-Bahn, S stands for Stadt the German word for city.

In 1929 when the a worldwide crisis of the economy starts, the boom stopped. In the same year Hitler's party the NSDAP gained the first seats in the parliament. Under the increasing pressure of left- and right-wing extremists the young democracy collapses eventually. In 1933 Hitler was appointed chancellor

Even though Berlin never was a stronghold of the national-socialist movement it stayed capital. On the 27th of February the Reichstag is on fire. The National-Socialists blamed it on the communists and used it to suspend the human rights of the republic.

With the rising of Hitler's dictatorship the systematic persecution of Jewish people began. Iin 1933 160.000 Jews live in Berlin over a third of them poor emigrants from eastern europe. In the night from the 9tth of November to the 10th Jewish shops and flats are plundered and destroyed, Jewish people beaten, robbed or arrested. In 1939 the number of Jewish people had sunken to 75.000. From 1941 on most of them were arrested and brought to concentration camps. Over 50.000 Jews from Berlin were brought away, most of them were murdered. The National-Socialist had also persecuted political enemies such as socialists or communists, homosexuals, minorities such as Sinti and Roma or Sorbs and also strict Christians like Jehovahs witnesses but also Catholics and Protestants who opposed the regime.

Thirty kilometres north of Berlin was the concentration camp Sachsenhausen. It was mostly used to imprison Russian war prisoners and political enemies who were forced to work in the ammunition factories and industries around Berlin. Tens of thousands died.

In 1936 Berlin hosted the Olympic Games. Hitler used them to make propaganda for his regime. Hitler planned to extend Berlin to the so called "world capital Germania" most of the buildings were never build due to the Second World War. A couple of buildings were built though for example the Ferbelliner Square.

Potsdamer Platz 1945

In 1939 the Second World War began. Already 1940 British troops began bombarding the city. After the USA entered the war the bombardments increase, the Americans fly at the daytime, the British at night. On the 18th of March in 1945 alone over 1,250 bombers attacked the city. One fifth of all the buildings were destroyed, in the centre more than half of them, 20.000 people died. 1.5 million lost their homes. At the end of the war practically the entire infrastructure was destroyed and the supply situation was catastrophic.

On the 30th of April 1945 Hitler shoot himself in his bunker. The 2nd of May Berlin capitulated to the Russian army. The war was over, the National-Socialists were beaten and Berlin was almost completely destroyed.