With the
London Protocol of 1944 and subsequent
Potsdam Conference in 1945, the
Allied powers of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union decided to divide
Germany into three occupation zones and to establish a special area of Berlin, which was occupied by the three Allied Forces together. In May 1945, the Soviet Union installed a city government for the whole city that was called "Magistrate of Greater Berlin", which existed until 1947. After the war, the Allied Forces initially administered the city together within the
Allied Kommandatura, which served as the governing body of the city. However, in 1948 the Soviet representative left the Kommandatura and the common administration broke apart during the following months. In the Soviet sector, a separate city government was established, which continued to call itself the "Magistrate of Greater Berlin". When the German Democratic Republic was established in 1949, it immediately claimed East Berlin as its capital—a claim that was recognized by all
communist countries. Nevertheless, East Berlin representation in the initially only consisted of non-voting delegates, indirectly elected by the Magistrate, until an amendment to the electoral law providing for direct elections was passed on June 28, 1979, taking effect on June 14, 1981. In June 1948, all railways and roads leading to West Berlin were
blocked, and East Berliners were not allowed to emigrate. Nevertheless, more than 1,000 East Germans were
escaping to West Berlin each day by 1960, caused by the strains on the East German economy from war reparations owed to the Soviet Union, massive destruction of industry, and lack of assistance from the
Marshall Plan. In August 1961, the
East German Government tried to stop the population exodus by separating West Berlin by the
Berlin Wall. It was very dangerous for fleeing residents to cross because
armed soldiers were trained to
shoot illegal emigrants. East Germany was a
socialist republic. Eventually, Christian churches were allowed to operate without restraint after years of harassment by authorities. In the 1970s, the wages of East Berliners rose and working hours fell. The
Soviet Union and the
Communist Bloc recognized East Berlin as the GDR's capital. However,
Western Allies (the
United States,
United Kingdom, and
France) never formally acknowledged the authority of the East German government to govern East Berlin. Official Allied protocol recognized only the authority of the Soviet Union in East Berlin in accordance with the occupation status of Berlin as a whole. The United States Command Berlin, for example, published detailed instructions for U.S. military and civilian personnel wishing to visit East Berlin. In fact, the three Western commandants regularly protested against the presence of the East German
National People's Army in East Berlin, particularly on the occasion of military parades. Nevertheless, the three Western Allies eventually established embassies in East Berlin in the 1970s, although they never recognized it as the capital of East Germany. Treaties instead used terms such as "seat of government". On 3 October 1990, East and West Germany and East and West Berlin
were reunited, thus formally ending the existence of East Berlin. Citywide elections in December 1990 resulted in the first "all-Berlin" mayor being elected to take office in January 1991, with the separate offices of mayors in East and West Berlin expiring at the time, and
Eberhard Diepgen (a former mayor of West Berlin) became the first elected mayor of a reunited Berlin. == Historical population ==