Exclaves of West Berlin in East Germany

During the Division of Germany (1945–90), West Berlin was controlled by the Western Allies (United States, United Kingdom, France), but was completely surrounded by the territory of East Germany. Twelve small areas of land belonging to West Berlin were not connected by land to the rest of West Berlin, but were exclaves surrounded by the East German territory.

When Greater Berlin was constituted on 1 October 1920, a total of ten Berlin exclaves were created surrounded by the Mark of Brandenburg. Although these exclaves were under Berlin’s administration, they were not connected by land to the city proper (as is the definition of exclave). The London Protocol signed on 12 September 1944 set out Allied arrangements for dividing Germany into zones of occupation after the war.[1] The protocol took the old German administrative borders as its guide. As it happened, all of the exclaves belonged to West Berlin boroughs. As a result, they ended up being retained as enclaves after 1945, first inside the Soviet occupation zone and after 1949 inside East Germany.[2]

List of the exclaves after 1945

During the Cold War these exclaves raised sovereignty issues that led to repeated conflicts. Traffic to and from Steinstücken, for instance, the only exclave with permanent residents, was often hindered as it crossed East German territory, resulting in frequent confrontations between East German authorities, residents, representatives of the Berlin Senate and the U.S. Army.

West Berlin's twelve exclaves were the following:

Territorial exchanges

To ease movement between West Berlin and its exclaves, three territorial exchanges took place.

The first exchange was part of the Four-Power Agreement on Berlin and took place on 20 December 1971. The agreement specified at part II C and Annex III 3 that "The problems of the small enclaves, including Steinstücken, and of other small areas may be solved by exchange of territory." On the 3 June 1972 East Germany gave a total of 15.6 hectares of land, while West Berlin got a total of 17.1 hectares. Exclaves numbered above 1–3, 6, 8, 10 were ceded to West Berlin and exclave 11 was connected to West Berlin. The most important piece of property was the 2.3 hectares that connected Steinstücken to the Zehlendorf borough. The Senate paid the East Geramn government DM 4 million in compensation for the extra land. In a second supplementary arrangement signed on 21 July 1972, the Senate and the East German government sold for DM 31 million an 8.5 hectares plot belonging to East Berlin at the former Potsdam train station.

In a second redeployment in 1988, the remaining exclaves numbered 5, 7 and 12 were ceded to East Germany and exclaves 4 and 6 were territorially connected with West Berlin. On 31 March 1988, after more than 4 years of negotiations West Berlin received 14 pieces of property, for a total of 96.7 hectares, along the inner and outer borders of the city, including the Lenné-Dreieck, a triangle of land at Potsdamer Platz. East Germany acquired the West Berlin exclaves Falkenhager Wiese, Laszinswiesen and Wüste Mark along with a 50m strip of land along the freight station Eberswalder Güterbahnhof north of Bernauer Strasse in the Wedding borough (today’s Mauerpark). East Germany also received DM 76 million additional compensation. As a result of this exchange, West Berlin’s territory grew by 9.4 hectares.

References

  1. ↑ ""Ostpolitik: The Quadripartite Agreement of September 3, 1971"] (U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Germany)".
  2. ↑ "History of the Exclaves of West Berlin in East Germany and of territorial exchanges. on the official website of the City of Berlin".
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