With the London Protocol of 1944 signed on 12 September 1944, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union decided to divide Germany into three occupation zones and to establish a special area of Berlin, which was occupied by the three Allied Forces together.

In the Soviet sector, a separate city government was established, which continued to call itself the "Magistrate of Greater Berlin".

Nevertheless, East Berlin's representatives to the Volkskammer were not directly elected and did not have full voting rights until 1981.

Nevertheless, more than 1,000 East Germans were escaping to West Berlin each day by 1960, caused by the strains on the East German economy from war reparations owed to the Soviet Union, massive destruction of industry, and lack of assistance from the Marshall Plan.

It was very dangerous for fleeing residents to cross because armed soldiers were trained to shoot illegal emigrants.

Eventually, Christian churches were allowed to operate without restraint after years of harassment by authorities.

[4] The Soviet Union and the Communist Bloc recognized East Berlin as the GDR's capital.

Because of this, a massive amount of West German economic aid was poured into East Germany to revitalize it.

East Berlin has a distinct visual style; this is partly due to the greater survival of prewar façades and streetscapes, with some still showing signs of wartime damage.

Additionally, the former East Berlin (along with the rest of the former GDR) retains a small number of its GDR-era street and place names commemorating German socialist heroes, such as Karl-Marx-Allee, Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, and Karl-Liebknecht-Straße.