Before the WWII end, from the 4th to the 11th of February 1945, Yalta Conference divided <st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region> into 4 temporary occupation zones: they were occupied by <st1:city w:st="on">RU</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">USA</st1:country-region>, Soviet and <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region>, and <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Berlin</st1:place></st1:state> was divided into the same 4 zones.
When WWII ended in <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place> on the 8th of May 1945 winner countries settled down on planned zones. From the 17th to 2nd of August 1945, the Potsdam Agreement re-affirmed principles laid out earlier by the Yalta Conference.
But Allies didn’t have the same wishes for <st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region> than Soviets: these last ones intended to impose in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region> the Communism whereas the West Allies wanted to develop the German economy so that Germans pay themselves the repairs.
In 1948, American government set up the Marshall Plan to help <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place> reconstruction by granting loans. <st1:place w:st="on">Soviet Union</st1:place> refused this help.
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">USSR</st1:place></st1:country-region> wanted to take power in all states they occupied. The world began to be separated into 2 parts. The West created a new currency and introduced the Deutshe Mark, but Soviets refused to permit its use as legal in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Berlin</st1:place></st1:state>.
On the 1st of April 1948, Soviets began to disrupt connections between <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Berlin</st1:place></st1:state> and the western zones.
On the 23rd of June 1948, <st1:country-region w:st="on">USSR</st1:country-region> decided to answer, Stalin blocked the western sectors of <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Berlin</st1:place></st1:state>: ground communication were blocked, no more supply crossed the Soviet zone. They did not furnish any more electricity current coming from their factories at west part of the city. Only the provisioning by air was possible.
On the 25th of June, Clay, an American serviceman and politician, ordered to set up an airlift (which lasted 324 days) to provide West Berlin & which was going to feed the 2.5 million western Berliners during almost 1 year, as we can see on this photo taken in 1948 at Tempelhof airport of Berlin. There are a lot of people; they are watching a C-54 which is going to land. It seems to be a very expected event for Berliners. This plane and many others, named “Rosinenbomber” (“bombers of raisins”) by Berliners, were used to transport food, equipment and raw materials, among more than one and a half million of tons of coal. This and also wheat were transported for the heating, added in electricity production, gasoline and medicines. On the 10th of April 1949, an allied plane landed all the minute. Parachutists distributed even candies to children.
<st1:place w:st="on">Western Berlin</st1:place> became a symbol for West. The blockade provoked a shortage of food which obliged <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Berlin</st1:place></st1:state> population to cultivate its own fruits and vegetables. There was the come back of ration coupons and black market.
The life was very hard during this period for inhabitants of <st1:place w:st="on">West Berlin</st1:place> and numerous Berliners died of malnutrition or tuberculosis during the blockade.
The blockade end was felt as a big reassurance for <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Berlin</st1:place></st1:state> population on the 12th of May 1949. But airlift was maintained until the 30th of September.
In October 1949, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) at the East and Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) at the West were created, which separated even more the two blocs (Western and Eastern).
It was an important defeat for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">USSR</st1:place></st1:country-region> and GDR.
After that, lives’ conditions were so hard and the unemployment reached a very high rate.
There was the creation of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which gathered the Western Bloc against the Eastern. This part of the History was at the origin of the cold war.
DUCOMET Charlotte 1ere S10
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