The people helped West Berlin by sending airlifts in 1948.
When Germany was split, Berlin became landlocked. The only way in or out was by air. So everything they needed had to be flown in.
west berliners began fleeing into east berlin
The Berlin Airlift .
Because Russia had taken over East Berlin, the supplies coming from West Berlin to East Berlin had been cut off, leaving the people in East Berlin with virtually no supplies. The Berlin Airlift was then enacted as a sort of brinkmanship as well as to give East Berliners their items.
Year-long mission of flying food and supplies to blockaded West Berliners, whom the Soviet Union cut off from access to the West in the first major crisis of the Cold War.
The Berlin Blockade escalated the Cold War by showing that the Soviet Union did not want Germany to be a independent, unified country. Because West Berliners were cut off from the rest of the capitalist world, they needed food to be flown in by Allied planes. It is also significant because of the "candy bombers" (Germans who were children back then still remember pilots dropping sweets during their supply runs).
The Berlin Airlift was in reaction to the Berlin Blockade. The United States and allies delivered supplies to West Berlin.
The Russians wanted the western sectors so they wouldn't allow food and supplies into Berlin. The airlift provided food and supplies for West Berlin for nearly a year.
The population of West Berlin at the time of the blockade and airlift (1948-49) was about 2 million.
West Berlin was isolated within soviet controlled germany. the berlin airlift stopped the city from staving to death when the soviets cut off the only road from west germany to west berlin.
Berlin Airlift
Harry Truman was the president when the airlift foiled the Soviet blockade of West Berlin.
The Berlin Airlift from 1947-49, conducted by both American and British transport planes everyday. It was a major success story that would endear Berliners to the American people.