Hello,

It is correct that the three Western sectors of Greater Berlin were not an
integral part of the FRG at any time (prior to 3. Oct 1990). Their highest
Authority were the sector commanders of USA, UK and France. The same goes for
East Berlin which never was an integral part of the GDR. That's why the
boundaries of Greater Berlin were not allowed to be enlarged on the Eastern
side to allow for newly developed parts of the agglomeration to be included
in the East Berlin territory.

Laws passed in Bonn/FRG were not automatically applicable in West Berlin.
They had to include a specific Article stipulating that the law also was also
valid in West Berlin.

So, legally, Greater Berlin consisted of four "colonies". One the Soviet
Union allowed to be governed by the GDR (unless they didn't like a particular
law or so). The other three sectors, the Western powers allowed to govern
themselves by a Senate for all three, and to cooperate closely with the FRG.

Inhabitants of West Berlin were never subjected to Armed Forces conscription
as the FRG male population was. They had special green West Berlin id cards,
whereas FRG had grey ones.

Hope these paragraphs help a little.

Bernhard

anton_zeilinger@... wrote:

> hi,
>
> a german friend of mine once told me that technically speaking West
> Berlin was NOT an exclave of the FRG in the GDR, as it was not West
> German territory. According to him, it was politically speaking part
> of the GDR, only administered by the western allies.
>
> This notion is supported by the fact that up to the building of the
> Berlin wall there was a joint administration of the city.
>
> Can anyone prove/disprove this claim?
>
> thx,
> Anton Z.
>
>
>
>
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