Understand

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History
The foundation of Berlin was very multicultural. The surrounding area was populated by Germanic Swabian and Burgundian tribes, as well as Slavic Wends in prechristian times, and the Wends have stuck around. Their modern descendants are the Sorbian Slavic-language minority who live in villages southeast of Berlin near the Spree river.

In the beginning of the 13th century two towns (Berlin and Cölln) developed on each side of the river Spree (today the Nikolaiviertel and the quarter next to it beyond the river). As the population grew, the towns merged and Berlin became a center for commerce and the region's agriculture, but stayed small (about 10.000 inhabitants) up to the late 17th century - also because of the 30 years' war in the beginning of the 17th century, which led to death of about half of the population.

Since the the late 17th century, when large numbers of French Huguenots fled religious persecution, Berlin has welcomed asylum seekers, religious, economic or otherwise. 1701 Berlin became capital of Prussia and 1710 Berlin and surrounding former autonomous cities were merged to a bigger Berlin.
1871 Berlin became the capital of the new founded German Reich and a few years later, also because of the immensely growing industry, a city with more than one million inhabitants.
Shortly after the first world war, in 1920, the last of the annexations of surrounding cities of Berlin led to the foundation of the Berlin as we know it nowadays. After the coming into power of the National Socialists, Berlin became the capital of the so called Third Reich and the domicile and office of Hitler (though the triumph of Hitler and his companions started in the south of Germany).

WW II led to destruction of most of central Berlin, thus many of the buildings which we see nowadays are reconstructed or planned and built after the war, which led to a very fragmented cityscape in most parts of the inner town. Berlin was divided into four sectors (West Berlin into the French, American and British sector, East Berlin belonged to the USSR) because of the 2nd World War and in 1949 the GDR was founded with East Berlin as its capital - West Berlin belonged to West Germany (with Bonn as capital) and was a political Island in East Germany. Because of the growing tensions between West Germany and the GDR, latter built a wall between the countries - and around West Berlin, so the division was complete.

In 1989 the reunification started, the wall fell and in 1990 West and East Germany were merged officially together. Berlin became the capital of the reunified Germany in 1999.
After WW II and the building of the wall large numbers of immigrants from Turkey were invited to West Berlin to work in the growing industry sector - in east Berlin the jobs were done mostly by vietnamese immigrants. But also people from other communist countries, including the former Yugoslavia, not to mention Soviet soldiers who refused to return home, have helped...