Berlin

Berlin, the united Germany's capital since 1999, has evolved into the country's only truly international metropolis equal to Paris or London. Berlin is again on the cutting edge, as the federal government, new businesses, artists, and visitors from around the world are all being drawn to the city.

A royal residence during the 15th century, Berlin came into its own under the rule of King Friedrich II (1712-86) -- Frederick the Great -- whose liberal reforms and artistic patronage touched off a renaissance in the city. Such institutions as the Academy of Arts and the Academy of Sciences came into being during this period.

In the late 19th century, Prussia, ruled by the "Iron Chancellor" Count Otto von Bismarck, proved to be the dominant force in unifying the many independent German states. Berlin maintained its status as Germany's capital for the duration of the German Empire (1871-1918), through the post-World War I Weimar Republic (1919-33), and also through Hitler's Third Reich (1933-45).

But the city's golden years were the 1920s, when Berlin, the energetic, modern, and sinful counterpart to Paris, became a center for the cultural avant-garde. World-famous writers, painters, and artists met here while the impoverished bulk of its 4 million inhabitants lived in heavily overpopulated quarters.

This "dance on the volcano," as those years of political and economic upheaval have been called, came to a grisly and bloody end after January 1933, when Adolf Hitler assumed power. Hitler and the Nazis made Berlin their capital but ultimately failed to remodel the city into a silent monument to their power: By the end of World War II there was more rubble in Berlin than in all other German cities combined.

Following World War II, Berlin was partitioned into American, British, and French zones in the west, and a Soviet zone to the east. By 1947 the city had become one of the cold war's first testing grounds. The three western-occupied zones gradually merged, becoming West Berlin, while the Soviet-controlled eastern zone defiantly remained separate.

Peace conferences repeatedly failed to resolve the question of Germany's division, and in 1949 the Soviet Union established East Berlin as the capital of its new puppet state, the German Democratic Republic (DDR). The division of the city was cruelly finalized in concrete in August 1961, when the East German government constructed the Berlin Wall, dividing families and friends until the "Peaceful Revolution" of 1989.

With the wall relegated to the souvenir pile of history, visitors can now appreciate the qualities that mark the city as a whole. Its particular charm has always lain in its spaciousness, its trees and greenery, and its racy atmosphere. Moreover, the really stunning parts of the prewar capital are in the historic eastern part of town, which has grand avenues, monumental architecture, and world treasures in its museums.

What really makes Berlin tick, however, are the intangibles -- the fascinating juxtaposition of Macht und Geist (power and intellect) and the spirit and bounce of the city and its citizens. Berliners come off as brash, witty, no-nonsense types who speak German with their own piquant dialect and are considered by their fellow countrymen as a most rude species. The bracing air, the renowned Berliner Luft, gets part of the credit for their high-voltage energy. That energy is also attributable to the many residents who have faced adversity all their lives, and have managed to do so with a mordant wit and cynical acceptance of life.