After the Second World War, the Allies; Britain, France, USA, and the Soviet Union divided Germany and Berlin amongst themselves; the Allied Powers, in the West and the Soviet Union in the East. Berlin was in East Germany and thus in the Soviet sector, however Berlin had always been the government centre of a United Germany and it remained the capital of the reunified Germany. Hence Berlin had to be the seat of the Allied Control Council, with the city was also subdivided into sectors run according to the common policies drawn up by the three Military commandants.
Divided Germany
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Divided Berlin
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The Western Powers were highly sceptical about the ambitions and motives of the USSR. British Prime Minister Churchill and other leaders believed that the maintenance of peace and the rebuilding of a shattered Europe could not be achieved with Soviet help, as Churchill said:
“I felt bound to proclaim my confidence in Soviet good faith in the hope of procuring it.” (Churchill cited in A. Tusa. 1996. p5)
The divisions of East and West Berlin led to a heavy contrast in the lives of the local population. Nowhere were the communist and noncommunist systems forced to coexist as close to each other as in Berlin. Writer and editorial page editor Serge Schemann says that “Almost immediately after World War II came to an end, Berlin became like a dangerous fuse in the East-West confrontation, the place where the cold war could suddenly turn hot.” (S. Schemann. 2006. p26) In the West was a capitalist city, with modern domestic appliances, smart cars, and a thriving consumer society. In the East people were living with socialism and needed a lot of persuasion to believe in the superiority of their system. Wieland Giebel an author who is biased towards capitalism states that West Berlin became a “shining island in the middle of socialism.” (W. Giebel. 2014. p57) This volatile mix of cultures, political systems and the ongoing tensions would have inevitably led to a war, had the wall not been built.