West Berlin
Cold War island
West Berlin was the western portion of Berlin that remained under American, British, and French control from 1945 to 1990, forming an enclave within Soviet-controlled East Germany.
Cut off from West Germany, it became a symbol of Cold War tension and Western resistance to communism.
The Berlin Wall surrounded it from 1961 until its fall in 1989.
My grandfather escaped to West Berlin before the wall went up.
Water-bounded land mass
- exclaveGeographically separated political territory
- surroundedBounded on all sides
- encircledSurrounded on all sides
- isolationComplete separation from others
corridor · autobahn · transit · perimeter · border · demarcation · cut-off · outpost
East-West Berlin transit point
- Iron CurtainCold War's political divide
- blockadeSealing off a place
- espionageCovert intelligence gathering
- defectorsThose abandoning allegiance
Stasi · propaganda · Kennedy · Khrushchev · Marshall Plan · NATO · Soviet Union · GDR
Flight from captivity
- refugePlace of safety
- asylumShelter from persecution
- sanctuaryProtected sacred space
- democracyRule by the people
dissidence · resistance · protest · exodus · defection · emigration · free press · consumerism
island
Water-bounded land mass
- exclaveGeographically separated political territory
- surroundedBounded on all sides
- encircledSurrounded on all sides
isolation · corridor · autobahn · transit · perimeter · border · demarcation · cut-off · outpost · lifeline
Checkpoint Charlie
East-West Berlin transit point
- Iron CurtainCold War's political divide
- blockadeSealing off a place
- espionageCovert intelligence gathering
defectors · Stasi · propaganda · Kennedy · Khrushchev · Marshall Plan · NATO · Soviet Union · GDR · sectors
escape
Flight from captivity
democracy · dissidence · resistance · protest · exodus · defection · emigration · free press · consumerism · symbol
U-Bahn
German urban subway system
- BerlinBrandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, Reichstag, U-Bahn
- Cold WarIron Curtain, arms race, Warsaw Pact, Cuban Missile Crisis, Eastern Bloc
- Berlin historyBrandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, divided city, reunification, fall of the wall
- Berlin WallBrandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, death strip, border crossing, fall of the wall
- Cold War GermanyEast Germany, German reunification, divided Germany, Checkpoint Charlie, GDR
- Cold War SitesCheckpoint Charlie, Iron Curtain, Brandenburg Gate, Kremlin, Red Square
West BerlinEast Berlin
Communist-controlled German capital
East Germany · DDR · German Democratic Republic · GDR · Soviet Bloc
west, western, Berlin, westerner, westerners, westernize, West, Berliner, westernized