# Berlin thing the Berlin Wall. A reference to Berlin being divided into English, French, British and Russian sectors by the Allies after World War II. The Russian sector came to be known as East Berlin, and the other sectors were called West Berlin. In 1961 a wall was erected by East Germany which divided the city into a communist section and a noncommunist section (just as Germany was similarly divided between East [communist] and West [noncommunist]) to keep East Berliners from defecting to the West.