Berlin Wall 25th Anniversary: Berlin Then and Now - in Pictures
On November 9 Germany will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, which divided the city for nearly 30 years before it dramatically fell in 1989.
Built in 1961 as Cold War tensions mounted, the wall not only cleaved a city in half, but also became a symbol of the wider division of the communist eastern bloc and the democratic west.
Just before 7pm on November 9, 1989, a member of the ruling socialist party announced that applications could now be made for permits to travel to western countries, and that people would be allowed to travel through the checkpoints from East to West Germany. Asked when this would come into effect, he hesitated before replying "immediately".
As the news spread across the city, disbelieving citizens rushed to the border checkpoints and demanded to be allowed into the west. The guards, taken by surprise, let them through, and soon people across the city were pushing through barriers and scrambling over the wall.
Jubilant scenes followed as friends and families were reunited, people danced on top of the wall, and the force of the crowds overwhelmed any remaining border guards trying to hold them back.
Once this first concession had been made, it seemed impossible to hold back the crowds of overjoyed citizens. Before long people were smashing the wall apart with wooden stakes and breaking parts off as souvenirs.
Television footage of the scenes was quickly relayed across Germany and the rest of the world, to the disbelief and joy of many watching.
In the following days and weeks cranes began the work of tearing down the wall, and thousands of people crossed the border in both directions. The quintessential East German car, the Trabant or "Trabi" carried people to parts of the country they hadn't seen for nearly three decades.
Berlin's appearance has changed enormously since the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989.
East Germany disappeared less than a year later when the country was reunited, and much of the wall was demolished quickly — though a few sections remain at their original sites.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.
- MOST READ
