East Germany
Germany, facts and history in brief
East Berlin
Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part
of Berlin between 1949 and 1990.
It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin
that was established in 1945.
The American, British and French sectors became
West Berlin, a de facto part of West Germany.
East Berlin was the capital of East Germany.
From August 13, 1961 until November 9, 1989 it
was separated from West Berlin by the Berlin Wall.
The East Germans called East Berlin just "Berlin"
or sometimes "Berlin, Hauptstadt der DDR"
(Berlin, capital of the GDR).
East Berlin comprised the boroughs of
Friedrichshain
Hellersdorf
Hohenschönhausen
Köpenick
Lichtenberg
Marzahn
Mitte
Pankow
Prenzlauer Berg
Treptow
Weißensee
On October 3, 1990 West Germany and East
Germany were united, thus formally ending
the existence of East Berlin.
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| Occupied Berlin |
East Berlin Boroughs |
For a more information about
East_Berlin see Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This page was retrieved and condensed from
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Berlin)
December 2005
All text is available under the terms of the
GNU Free Documentation License (see
Copyrights for details).
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
This information was correct in December
2005. E. & O.E.
There were some funny ways to
get into East Berlin when Sarolta and
I visited West Berlin during 1978.
Well, it looked quite a funny experience
to me at the time.
It was some experience to get into
West Berlin to start with.
Sarolta, my daughter and I spent some
time exploring Europe in 1978.
We had a 3 months Eurail Pass that
we used in countries that were part
of the system at the time and we've
visited some countries before and
after the duration of our Pass.
We visited the British Isles and
the Irish Republic before using
the Brit Rail Pass also Hungary and
Romania afterwards.
Travelling to West Berlin added that
little extra to our experiences.
Our Eurail Pass only got us to the
East German border and we had to buy
additional tickets to get us into the heart
of East Germany, where 'West' Berlin was.
After passing the border we were instructed
to keep away from the windows and do not
use cameras or they will be confiscated.
We were practically 'prisoners' for the 4
hours our train took to reach 'West Berlin'.
Of course after exploring 'West Berlin' we
had an urge to see 'East Berlin' as well.
To get to 'East Berlin' we had to get a
certain 'Underground' train which was going
on the surface most of the time anyway,
change at a certain place to another one to
end up at one of the official 'Checkpoint' at
the Friedrichstrasse Raiway Station.
Getting a temporary visa was another typical
communist bureaucratic experience especially
for me a former Hungarian political refugee.
It was muck like entering a 'Lion's Den'
during the 'hey-day' of the 'Cold War'.
Leaving East Berlin by the way we came was another memorable
experience as we were interrogated at length as on our
entering about the purpose and length of our visit.
Especially questioning the brevity, (about 15-16 hours)
of our visit.
The contrast between the two Berlins were astounding,
the solemnity or drabness of the 'east' pitted against
the vibrancy of the 'west'.
Frankly I couldn't get out of the place fast enough,
I was shaking in my boots or shoes to be more precise
most of the time and felt like somebody was watching
us all the time.
In hindsight, with the anxiety behind and mostly forgotten,
it was a memorable experience, vividly remembered to
this day.
During our departure we were questioned
about what we were taking out and trying to
anticipate and avoid any trouble we were
travelling very light, but I did get a bit
nervous and trying not to show it, when
I was asked about if I was taking out
any East German money which had to be exchanged
at 'their' rate or confiscated, they
especially mentioned coins as well.
I was carrying a good handful of
different coins in my pocket and being
a coin collector, I was hoping to keep
and add to my collection.
You can click on these photos for an enlargement.
1978
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