West Berlin - Exclaves

Exclaves

West Berlin's border was identical with the municipal boundary of Berlin as defined in the Greater Berlin Act of 1920 and amended in 1938, and the border between the Soviet sector and the French, British and American sectors respectively, which followed the boundaries of Berlin administrative boroughs as defined in the same years. Another amendment was added in 1945 at the border between the British sector of Berlin and the Soviet zone such that the Wehrmacht airfield at Berlin-Gatow became British and the airfield at Berlin-Staaken became Soviet. The resulting borderline of all these changes was complicated with a lot of geographical oddities, including a number of exclaves and enclaves that Greater Berlin had inside some neighbouring municipalities since 1920, all of which happened to become part of the British or American sectors after 1945, thus parts of West Berlin surrounded by East Germany.

Furthermore the Gatow/Staaken exchange in August 1945 resulted in the geographically western half of Berlin-Staaken, which was located at the western outskirts of the city, becoming de jure Soviet occupied. However, the de facto administration remained with the Borough of Spandau in the British sector. So all inhabitants of Staaken could vote for West Berlin's city state elections in 1948 and 1950. On 1 February 1951 East German Volkspolizei surprised the West Staakeners and occupied western Staaken and ended the administration by the Spandau Borough; instead, western Staaken became an exclave of the Soviet occupied borough Berlin-Mitte in the city centre. However, on 1 June 1952, western Staaken's de facto administration was conveyed to neighbouring East German Falkensee in the East German district Nauen. This situation was undone on 3 October 1990, the day of German unification, when West Staaken was reincorporated into united Berlin.

Under the Four Power Agreement on Berlin in 1971, the Allies authorised West Berlin to negotiate territorial allocations with East Germany. On 20 December 1971, the first territorial re-allocations took place and included the exclaves numbered 1–3, 6, 8, 10 and 11 (mentioned below), connecting exclave 11 with West Berlin and ceding the other six to East Germany as well as including a payment of four million West German Deutsche Mark to the East. The remaining exclaves were either ceded (No. 5, 7 and 12) to East Germany or territorially connected with West Berlin (No. 4 and 6) in a second redeployment in 1988.

West Berlin's twelve exclaves were the following:

1–3 Böttcherberg (German) (0.30 ha/0.74 acre): three unconnected, uninhabited and unused pieces of land, belonged to West Berlin's Borough of Zehlendorf, ceded to East Germany in 1971, since then a part of Potsdam.
4 Erlengrund (German) (0.51 ha/1.26 acre): Allotment club, seasonally inhabited, belonging to the Borough of Spandau, territorially connected with West Berlin, when East Germany ceded the adjacent tract of land in 1988. Until 1988, the members of the allotment club in West Berlin could only access it via a short passage while accompanied by East German border guards. Except for emergency rescuers, no one else was allowed to access the exclave. The path to Erlengrund was fenced on both sides so not to allow access to East Germans.
5 Falkenhagener Wiese (45.44 ha/112.28 acre): unused grassland, belonged to the Borough of Spandau, ceded to East Germany in 1988, since then a part of Falkensee.
6 Fichtewiese (German) (3.51 ha/8.67 acre): Allotment club, seasonally inhabited, belonging to the Borough of Spandau, and territorially connected with West Berlin, when East Germany ceded the adjacent tract of land in 1988. Until 1988, the allotment holders had to pass East German border controls on their way between Fichtewiese and the rest of West Berlin. Except for emergency rescuers, no one else was allowed to access the exclave. The path connecting Fichtewiese with West Berlin was fenced on both sides so not to allow access to East Germans.
7 Finkenkrug, (3.45 ha/8.53 acre): inhabited by East Germans, five km away from West Berlin's border, and belonged to the Borough of Spandau, ceded to East Germany in 1971, since then a part of Falkensee.
8 Große Kuhlake (8.03 ha/19.84 acre): unused grassland, belonged to the Borough of Spandau, ceded to East Germany in 1971.
9 Laßzins-Wiesen (13.49 ha/33.33 acre): unused grassland, belonged to the Borough of Spandau, ceded to East Germany in 1988, since then a part of Schönwalde.
10 Nuthewiesen (German) (3.64 ha/8.99 acre): uninhabited wet meadows, belonged to the Borough of Zehlendorf, ceded to East Germany in 1971, since then a part of Potsdam.
11 Steinstücken (12.67 ha/31.31 acre): inhabited by West Berliners and belonging to the Borough of Zehlendorf. Until 1971, the inhabitants had to pass East German border controls on their way between Steinstücken and the main area of West Berlin. Except for emergency rescuers and repair personnel, no one else was allowed to access the exclave. The road connecting Steinstücken was immured on both sides not allowing Easterners to enter it. In 1961, a permanent US military post was erected in the exclave. All military personnel stationed there had to be flown in by helicopter. In 1971, Steinstücken's status as exclave ended when it was connected to West Berlin by a strip of territory about one kilometer in length and 20 meters in width. This territory was acquired by West Berlin during the territorial re-allocations. A paved two-lane road (Bernhard-Beyer-Straße) was constructed in this strip before the territory was handed over from the GDR to West Berlin. This road was bordered by the Berlin Wall on both sides. Bus line 18 (now 118) was extended into Steinstücken in 1972.
12 Wüste Mark (German) (21.83 ha/53.94 acre): despite its name (meaning "desert border region" in English), not a wasteland, but a seasonally tilled acreage, belonging to the Borough of Zehlendorf, ceded to East Germany in 1988, and since then a part of Stahnsdorf. Wüste Mark is a tract of land adjacent to Wilmersdorf's forest cemetery in Güterfelde. Until 1988, the West Berlin farmer tilling the land was allowed after filing a formal request to cross with his tractor through East Germany.