Main article: Germany
Real estate
Main article: Real estate (German market)
2023: Record housing price crash in 60 years
Residential property prices in Germany in 2023 showed the steepest drop in 60 years.
2021: Average monthly rent for a one-room apartment in central Berlin - $1,095
Education
Higher education institutions
Transport
2020: Berlin - in the top 10 cities in the world in the number of car sharing cars
Ecology
2018: Tree cover - 44%
Population
Marriages and divorces
2018: Number of same-sex marriages - 1,100
History
Main article: History of Germany
1990
In September 1990, US President Ronald Reagan made a 10-day tour of European countries, during which he visited Berlin, where, of course, he participated in the "demolition" of the Wall, the process of dismantling of which began on November 9, 1989, during spontaneous rallies.
1989: Destruction of the Berlin Wall
Checkpoint "C" (Charlie) from West to East Berlin on Friedrichstraße.]]
1988
1986
1975
1968: Easter riots following assassination attempt on student leaders Rudy Dutschke
In the spring of 1968, after calls from newspapers (including Bild), a handyman fires three shots at the leader of the student movement, Rudy Dutschke, which leads to riots throughout Germany. Read more here.
1967: A police officer kills a student with a shot in the back of the head during a demonstration against Iranian Shah Mohammed Pahlavi's visit
An official visit to West Berlin by Iranian Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi on June 2, 1967 is accompanied by student demonstrations - the shah is considered a reactionary and tyrant, and Berlin has a small community of Iranian political refugees.
The demonstration is dispersed not only by a large police squad, but also by Iranian intelligence officers from the shah's escort, armed with wooden sticks. Some of the demonstrators scatter in neighboring courtyards, several police officers catch up in one of these courtyards of two students. One of them receives several blows to the head, but remains alive. The second, 26-year-old Benno Onezorg, shot at close range in the back of the head, police officer Karl-Heinz Kurras shoots him.
Onezorg is not a participant in the demonstration, he just "went out to see," he has a pregnant wife at home. In the ensuing process, the police officers are acquitted, as they cite what they thought were students armed.
In May 2009, documents are found in the archives that confirm that the policeman Karl-Heinz Kurras who shot Onezorg since 1955 was an informant and unofficial employee of the Ministry of State Security of the GDR. A new case is not being brought. Kurras, who continued to serve in the police until his retirement in 1986, dies in December 2014.
From 1971 to 1980, a left-wing extremist group called the June 2 Movement operated in West Berlin - it has several bank robberies and kidnappings.
1964
1963: Visit by US President Kennedy
1962
1961: Construction of the Berlin Wall
Warsaw Pact Organization leaders continued to demand the neutralization and demilitarization of West Berlin. In turn, NATO foreign ministers confirmed in May 1961 the intention to guarantee the presence of the armed forces of Western powers in the western part of the city and its "viability." Western leaders said they would defend "the freedom of West Berlin" with all their might.
Both blocs and both German states built up their armed forces and intensified propaganda against the enemy. The authorities of the GDR complained about Western threats and maneuvers, "provocative" violations of the country's border (137 in May - July 1961), the activities of anti-communist groups. They accused the "agents of Germany" of organizing dozens of acts of sabotage and arson. Great dissatisfaction with the leadership and police of East Germany caused the inability to control the flows of people moving across the border.
The situation was aggravated in the summer of 1961. The tough course of the 1st Chairman of the State Council of the GDR Walter Ulbricht, the economic policy aimed at "catching up and overtaking the FRG," and the corresponding increase in production standards, economic difficulties, violent collectivization of 1957-1960, foreign policy tensions and higher wages in West Berlin prompted thousands of citizens of the GDR to leave for the West. In total, more than 207 thousand people left the country in 1961. In July 1961 alone, more than 30,000 East Germans fled the country. These were predominantly young and skilled professionals.
Outraged East German authorities accused West Berlin and Germany of "human trafficking," "luring" personnel and trying to disrupt their economic plans. They assured that the economy of East Berlin annually loses 2.5 billion marks because of this.
In the context of the aggravation of the situation around Berlin, the leaders of the Warsaw Pact Organization countries decided to close the border between East and West Berlin. Rumors of such plans were in the air back in June 1961, but the leader of the GDR Walter Ulbricht then denied such intentions. In fact, then they had not yet received final consent from the USSR and other members of the Eastern Bloc.
From August 3 to 5, 1961, a meeting of the first secretaries of the ruling communist parties of the ATS states was held in Moscow, at which Ulbricht insisted on closing the border in Berlin. This time he received support from the Allies.
On August 7, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Socialist United Party of Germany (SED - East German Communist Party), it was decided to close the border of the GDR with West Berlin and Germany.
On August 12, the corresponding resolution was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the GDR East Berlin police were put on full alert.
At 1 am on August 13, 1961, the project began. About 25 thousand members of paramilitary "combat groups" from the enterprises of the GDR occupied the border line with West Berlin; their actions covered parts of the East German army. The Soviet army was on alert.
1957-1960: Aggravation of the political situation around Berlin
Both military-political blocs - NATO and the Warsaw Pact Organization (ATS) confirmed the intransigence of their positions in the German Question. The West German government, led by Konrad Adenauer, enacted the "Halstein Doctrine" in 1957, which provided for the automatic severance of diplomatic relations with any country that recognized the GDR. It categorically rejected the proposals of the East German side to create a confederation of German states, insisting instead on holding all-German elections.
In turn, the authorities of the GDR declared in 1958 their claims to sovereignty over West Berlin on the grounds that it was "in the territory of the GDR."
In November 1958, the head of the Soviet government, Nikita Khrushchev, accused the Western powers of violating the Potsdam Agreements of 1945. He announced the Soviet Union's abolition of Berlin's international status and described the entire city (including its western sectors) as the "capital of the GDR." The Soviet government proposed to turn West Berlin into a "demilitarized free city" and in an ultimatum demanded that the United States, Great Britain and France negotiate on this topic within six months (Berlin Ultimatum (1958)). This demand was rejected by the Western powers. Negotiations between their foreign ministers and the USSR Foreign Minister in Geneva in the spring and summer of 1959 ended to no avail.
After N. Khrushchev's visit to the United States in September 1959, the Soviet ultimatum was postponed. But the parties stubbornly adhered to their previous positions.
In August 1960, the GDR government imposed restrictions on visits by German citizens to East Berlin, citing the need to stop their conduct of "revanchist propaganda." In response, West Germany abandoned a trade agreement between both parts of the country, which the GDR regarded as an "economic war." After lengthy and difficult negotiations, the agreement was nevertheless put into effect on January 1, 1961. But this crisis was not resolved.
1956: Berlin remains a demilitarized city and attracts those who do not want to serve in the Bundeswehr
West Berlin remains until the reunification of Germany as a demilitarized city - and a city from which they are not called up for military service in the Bundeswehr created in 1955. Therefore, it is West Berlin that becomes the main city of youth protests - young people who do not want to serve in the new army are moving here en masse.
1948: Creation of a dividing line in Berlin
Before the construction of the wall, the border between the western and eastern parts of Berlin was relatively open. The dividing line with a length of 44.75 km (the total length of the border of West Berlin with the GDR was 164 km) passed directly through streets and houses, canals and waterways.
Officially, there were 81 street access points, 13 crossings in the metro and on the city railway. In addition, there were hundreds of illegal routes. Every day, 300 to 500 thousand people crossed the border between both parts of the city for various reasons.
The lack of a clear physical border between the zones led to frequent conflicts and mass leakage of specialists to West Berlin. Many East Germans preferred to work in West Berlin, where the salary was significantly higher.
1945
Main article: World War II
FSB published declassified archives about the crimes of the Western military in Berlin in 1945
On May 23, 2024, the FSB released declassified archival documents on the crimes of the American and French military against German citizens in 1945 in Berlin. The materials contain reports from the Soviet military administration of Berlin.
It is said that in May 1945, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SVAG) was created to directly manage the Soviet zone of occupation of Germany, the territory of which was divided into 14 operational sectors. Their employees were engaged in the fight against the Nazi underground, the search and arrest of war criminals, counterintelligence work, participated in the formation of German self-government bodies and solved other problems. At the same time, a feature of the Berlin sector was the function of monitoring the situation and behavior of the Allied forces in the American, British and French zones of Berlin.
The head of the Berlin opersector, Major General Alexei Sidnev, in a memorandum to the Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR Ivan Serov of November 9, 1945, reported on the crimes of the Western military:
 | As established, cases of hooliganism, robbery and violence by American servicemen over the Germans do not stop, and these facts increase daily. |  |
The documents provide data on atrocities, robberies and terror. For example, a case is described when Germans Friedrich Scholl and Karl Kricek returned home from work. They were approached by two American soldiers and asked to light a light. After that, for no reason, the Americans fired pistols, as a result of which Scholle was wounded in the chest, and Kricek in the stomach. They were taken to hospital in serious condition. In another incident, American soldiers from a machine gun were wounded in the hip and taken in serious condition to the hospital of German Lotta Bloxdorf. Documents are available on the FSB website at the link.
Soviet infantry march past Brandenburg Gate
1939: Visit of Prince Regent of Yugoslavia Paul with his wife Olga
In early June 1939, a noble couple invited by Hitler arrived in Berlin from Yugoslavia on a state visit: Prince Regent of Yugoslavia Pavel with his wife Olga.
Born Princess of Greece and Denmark, she was the sister of Duchess Mary of Kent, a close relative of British King George VI. This kinship played a part in the invitation. In addition, for the first time, a member of the reigning dynasty paid a visit to the Fuhrer of the National Socialist State.
This visit, according to his pomp, was overshadowed even by the arrival of Mussolini in his time. The Führer ordered in advance that the Bellevue Palace in Tiergarten be rebuilt and converted into a residence for guests of honor of the imperial government.
Hitler twice wished to be alone with the guests. On the second day, he arranged a dinner in their honor in his apartment, and on the third - a tea party in the new greenhouse of the Imperial Chancellery. He believed that during conversations in a narrow circle there are more opportunities to influence guests. The Führer strongly hoped that the content of his conversations with them on pre-selected topics would be transmitted to the British, although he did not yet know that the Prince Regent and his wife would go directly from Berlin to London to see their relatives at the British court.
The program of the visit also included the Wagnerian opera "Nuremberg Meistersingers" at the State Opera on Unter den Linden; Herbert von Karoyan was to conduct. Hitler was disappointed with this performance. He was dissatisfied with the inaccurate introductions of the orchestra, and also considered it audacious for a young musician to conduct a great creation without a score. Like, even the famous Wilhelm Furtwängler himself did not allow himself this.
The more magnificent the external framework of this visit, the greater Hitler was dissatisfied with its results, because he could not find contact with his guests.
1938
1936: Summer Olympics in Berlin
Main article: Olympic Games
1935
1933
1932
1932]]
1931
1926: Increased pet tax
1921
1919: Spartacist uprising led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg
In 1919, the Communists, led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, seized the editorial offices of newspapers and printing houses in Berlin.
Karl Radek arrived from Moscow to support the rebels. In response, German Defense Minister Gustav Noske introduces troops into the capital.
The uprising is crushed, Liebknecht and Luxembourg are killed. Radek was arrested and imprisoned in Moabit, but then deported to Moscow.
1916
1912
1895
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