Who shaped Berlin · Part 1
The Allies in Berlin: sectors, barracks and the places that tell the story
For almost 50 years Americans, British, French and Soviets lived in Berlin, with barracks, cinemas, airports and headquarters. Much of it is still standing. Here is who had which part of the city and where you can see the story today, in three museums even for free.
Four sectors from summer 1945, following the old district boundaries
Airlift blockade from June 1948 to May 1949
Withdrawal 1994, almost 50 years after they arrived
Free entry Allied Museum, Museum Berlin-Karlshorst, Military History Museum Gatow
Who had which sector
On 1 July 1945 the first American and British troops arrived in Berlin; the Red Army had been in the city since April. According to the state monuments office, the Americans took Neukölln, Kreuzberg, Tempelhof, Schöneberg, Steglitz and Zehlendorf, and the British Charlottenburg, Spandau, Tiergarten and Wilmersdorf. The French took over Wedding and Reinickendorf on 12 August 1945, and the Soviets kept the east with Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain, Pankow, Weißensee, Lichtenberg, Treptow and Köpenick. The four city commandants governed together in the Allied Kommandatura in Dahlem.
Joint administration soon turned into a divided city. When the Soviet Union blocked all land and water routes to West Berlin from June 1948, the Americans and British supplied the western sectors by airlift until the blockade ended in May 1949. The Two Plus Four Treaty of 1990 ended the special rights, and all four left in 1994: the Western Allies said goodbye with a joint parade in June, the Russian troops at the end of August.
Where you can see it today
01 Allied Museum and Clayallee · Dahlem
about 10 minutes on foot from Oskar-Helene-Heim U-Bahn station
Directions in Google Maps · Official site
The museum is housed in the former Outpost cinema at Clayallee 135, which the US Army built for its soldiers in 1953. The hall seated over 900 and was reserved for American military personnel. Today the exhibition covers the occupation, the airlift and the Cold War, with large exhibits outside. According to the museum it is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm, the large exhibits from 11 am to 5 pm, and entry is free. A few hundred metres away, at Clayallee 170/172, stood the headquarters of the US forces from 1945 to 1994, named after General Lucius D. Clay, regarded as the initiator of the airlift. The building can only be seen from outside.
02 Tempelhof Airport and Airlift Memorial · Tempelhof
about 4 minutes on foot from Platz der Luftbrücke U-Bahn station to the memorial
From 1945 to 1994 Tempelhof was the US Air Force's military airport in Berlin, and the supply planes landed here during the blockade. In front of the terminal stands the Airlift Memorial: its three prongs stand for the three air corridors to West Berlin, and the base bears the names of the people who died during the airlift. Behind it begins Tempelhofer Feld, more in the Ringbahn series, part 2.
03 Military History Museum Gatow Airfield · Kladow
according to the museum, bus 135 to Kurpromenade or Seekorso, then about 10 minutes on foot
Directions in Google Maps · Official site
On 2 July 1945 the British Royal Air Force took over Gatow airfield in the southwest of Spandau, and during the blockade it was the most important airport for supplying the western sectors after Tempelhof. Today it is a branch of the Bundeswehr Military History Museum with the tower, hangars and aircraft. According to the museum it is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm, entry is free, and there is a free tour from the tower on Sundays at 2 pm. Easy to combine with the BVG ferry F10 from Wannsee to Kladow, more in Berlin from the water.
04 Museum Berlin-Karlshorst · Karlshorst
about 17 minutes on foot from Karlshorst S-Bahn station
Directions in Google Maps · Official site
In the former engineering school at Zwieseler Straße 4, the Red Army set up its headquarters in April 1945, and later the Soviet Military Administration in Germany was based here. In the night of 8 to 9 May 1945 the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht was signed in this building, and the hall is part of the exhibition. The museum tells the story of the war in the east and the years after. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm, and entry is free.
05 Soviet War Memorial in the Tiergarten · Tiergarten
about 10 minutes on foot from Brandenburger Tor S-Bahn station
The first large memorial after the war was dedicated on 11 November 1945, on Straße des 17. Juni near the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate. According to the state monuments office, the graves of 2,500 Soviet soldiers lie in the rear of the site. It is a cemetery and a place of mourning, not a backdrop for jokes. Another, even larger memorial stands in Treptower Park, more in the Ringbahn series, part 2.
The British and French in the cityscape
In 1952 the British moved their headquarters from Fehrbelliner Platz to the former German Sports Forum next to the Olympic Stadium, more about the site in Olympiastadion Berlin. The French had their headquarters from 1945 to 1994 in the Quartier Napoléon in Wedding, a former air force barracks on Kurt-Schumacher-Damm with its own church and cinema. Today it is the Bundeswehr's Julius-Leber-Kaserne, and the site is not open to the public.
Good to know
- At memorials: keep your voice down, do not climb on graves or monuments, no jokey selfies. That applies in the Tiergarten as much as in Treptow.
- Three museums, no entry fee: the Allied Museum, Museum Karlshorst and Gatow are all free, and all three are closed on Mondays.
- More Cold War: Checkpoint Charlie and the memorial on Bernauer Straße are in Skip X, try Y, the Glienicke Bridge in Babelsberg.