On May 8, 1945, at the end of World War II, Berlin was divided into four sectors.  In the West, there were the American, British, and French.  In the East, there was the Soviet Union.  On June 30, 1946, the line between East and West was guarded for the first time.  In October of that year, for the first time, you were required to have a pass to travel between the sectors of Berlin.

            On June 23, 1948, East and West Berlin formed their own currencies.  The next day, by order of Stallin himself, Berlin was blockaded.  As a result, the Berlin Airlift began.  Over a little more than a year, almost 1.5 billion pounds of supplies were dropped into Berlin.  On May 12, 1949, the blockade of Berlin is ended.  About five months later, the last planes drop supplies into the city.

            On May 24, 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany, also known as West Germany, was formed.  On October 7, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was founded.

            On May 26, 1952, the border between East and West Germany was closed.  Only the border between East and West Berlin remained open.  On November 14, 1953, you no longer needed a pass to travel out of West Berlin, but you still need permission to leave the East, or you may be sent to prison for up to three years.  On August 13, 1961, the border between East and West Berlin is permanently closed, and thicker walls were built.  On June 26, 1963, John F. Kennedy visited the divided city and announced how he disliked the wall.  Between August of 1961 and December of 1963 people from West Berlin could not even visit East Berlin.

            On June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan visited Berlin and asked the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to get rid of the Berlin Wall.  In November of 1989, the wall was opened, and on October 3, 1990, Germany was reunited after almost fifty years of oppression by the Soviets.