Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield tweeted this amazing photo of Berlin, Germany as seen from the International Space Station with the caption “Amazingly, I think the light bulbs still show the East/West division from orbit.”
The more dense, commercial district on the west is lit up by bright white lights, while the eastern half of the city emits a softer, yellow glow.
East and West Germany were separated as a result of the combined allied forces descent upon Berlin during the final push of World War 2. As the Cold War set in, the Soviets began to essentially disconnect their new European assets from the West and erected an extensive wall. Dubbed the ‘Iron Curtain‘, it spanned much of Europe.
The wall was ripped down on the 9th of November, 1989 as the Soviet Union began to decline and German unification was achieved on the 3rd of October, 1990.
The demarcation of the wall and the East/West division is still visible to this day, as shown in the picture above.
