An era in which even the size of a kitchen knife was once decided by foreign military powers is coming to an end in Berlin, the last occupied city of World War II. The Soviet Union's agreement to gradually remove its troops from East Germany and allow a united Germany to join NATO effectively eliminates the last major barriers to unification. It also marks the virtual end of the control the four World War II Allies _ the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union _ have exerted over Germany since they conquered and divided it four decades ago. Nowhere is the influence of the war more evident than in Berlin, which could become the capital of a unified Germany but still is technically under military occupation. The Four Powers have said they will relinquish their rights to Berlin immediately upon unification, which is expected in early December. While West Germany was shaped into a democracy and East Germany became a model of Soviet-style communism, the capital of the old German empire was given special status under the Four Powers Agreement after the war. Britain, France and the United States remain the supreme authority in West Berlin and can, if necessary, control the telephone and mail services and police department. West Berlin is governed by a senate that must clear matters concerning security, foreign affairs and police questions with the Allies. In practice, the Allies have permitted city authorities to govern virtually on their own for many years. Hundreds of West Berlin ordinances enacted by the Allies after World War II are still on the books, but most of these laws are not enforced. An Allied committee, advised by the city, has been meeting for the past six years to throw out many of the outmoded laws. Last year, it repealed the Allied-ordered death penalty that had been on the books in West Berlin. West Germany has never had capital punishment. In the mid-1980s, the committee repealed a law that forbid West Berliners from owning kitchen knives longer than 12 inches _ another relic from the postwar years when household knives were regarded as potential weapons. As an enclave city 110 miles inside East German territory, West Berlin is linked to the West by air corridors and autobahns. The Four Powers still control the airways to Berlin, and only their airlines can fly to the city. Even the West German airline, Lufthansa, cannot land in Berlin. But this will change once the city becomes part of a unified Germany. West Berliners are exempt from serving in the West German armed forces, and young men will likely become eligible for the draft once the city passes into the German government sphere. This would effectively end West Berlin's popularity as a haven for draft dodgers from West Germany. The Allies' postwar rights can still occasionally rankle. The Berliner Morgenpost newspaper reported Tuesday that the Allies had rejected a local government proposal to require visas for East Europeans who now can travel freely to West Berlin. But Biddy Brett Rooks, spokeswoman for the British military government, called the report ``absolutely false'' and said the Allies had made no decision on the visa requirement. Ansgar Voessing, a spokesman for the Christian Democrat delegation in the city senate, said East bloc residents need a visa to go to West Germany, but none to travel to West Berlin. He cited that as an example of how the Four Powers Agreement has led to a ``clear inequality'' in laws. East Berlin was named the capital of Communist East Germany, an action never recognized by the Western allies. In East Berlin, the Soviet Union exercised little direct administrative control over the city because of the iron-fisted rule of its surrogate, East Germany's Communist government, and the presence of 380,000 Soviet troops in East Germany. ``The mayor had no power whatsoever. His sole function was to follow party directives,'' said Klaus Haetzel, spokesman for the East Berlin city council. The West German democratic constitution is as much a product of the Allies as the status of Berlin. Its system of 11 states, the nation's laws against extremism, were all drafted by the victors. In the long term, the only vestige of the war after German unification would be the Allied troops and their nuclear arsenals stationed in the country under the NATO alliance. Now that the Soviets have agreed to end their military presence on German territory in three or four years, the Western allies may be asked to withdraw some of their troops and weapons from West Germany. Demands for the removal of NATO nuclear weapons in West Germany could be the next step, according to Klaus Becher, a foreign policy analyst in Bonn. ``The West German populace favors the removal of nuclear weapons, at least offensive weapons,'' Becher said. ``Almost all political forces in Germany are especially sensitive to this.''
