THE BERLIN WALL Freedom.....

THE BERLIN WALL Twenty years ago, on the night of November 9, 1989, following weeks of pro-democracy protests, East German authorities suddenly opened their border to West Germany. After 28 years as prisoners of their own country, euphoric East Germans streamed to checkpoints and rushed past bewildered guards, many falling tearfully into the arms of West Germans welcoming them on the other side. Thousands of Germans and world leaders gathered in Berlin on November 9, 2009 to celebrate the "Mauerfall" - the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and German reunification and to remember the approximately 100-200 who died attempting to cross the border over the years.

Twenty years ago, on the night of November 9, 1989, following weeks of pro-democracy protests, East German authorities suddenly opened their border to West Germany. After 28 years as prisoners of their own country, euphoric East Germans streamed to checkpoints and rushed past bewildered guards, many falling tearfully into the arms of West Germans welcoming them on the other side. Thousands of Germans and world leaders gathered in Berlin on November 9, 2009 to celebrate the "Mauerfall" - the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and German reunification and to remember the approximately 100-200 who died attempting to cross the border over the years.

A man hammering at the Berlin Wall on Nov. 12, 1989, as the border barrier between East and West Germany was torn down after 28 years

Soldiers on the Berlin Wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate on November 10th, 1989.

The Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz. which was opened up on the morning of November 11th, 1989.

Soldiers hold back the crowd as a section of the Berlin wall was taken down at Potsdamer Platz on November 11th, 1989.

East Berliners get helping hands from West Berliners as they climb the Berlin Wall on November 10th, 1989.

East Berlin guards stand atop the Berlin Wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate on November 11, 1989

East German border policemen refuse to shake hands with a Berliner who stretches out his hand over the border fence at the eastern site nearby Checkpoint Charlie on November 10th, 1989, after the borders were opened.

A circus bear on its hind legs crosses into West Berlin with its handler through a section of the Berlin wall that was taken down at Potsdamer Platz on November 11th, 1989.

East German border guards look through a hole in the Berlin wall after demonstrators pulled down one segment of the wall at Brandenburg gate on November 11th, 1989.

East German citizens are applauded by West Berliners as they crossed Checkpoint Charlie with their cars to visit West Berlin on November 10th, 1989. Thousands of East Germans moved into West Berlin after the opening of the wall by East German government

West Berlin citizens continuing their vigil atop the Berlin Wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate On November 10, 1989

Same view as previous photo with cars passing through the Brandenburg Gate on November 1, 1999

The German Reichstag building (left) with the Berlin Wall on November 10, 1989

Same view as previous photo with the German Reichstag building (left) twenty years later on October 20, 2009, without the wall

People posing for photos at the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, June 6, 1989

Same view as previous photo at Ebertstrasse and the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, July 14, 2009

Tourists posing in front of the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg gate in Berlin, June 6, 1989

The same view as previous photo at the Brandenburg gate in Berlin, July 14, 2009

Among roses left by visitors, a couple peeks over a still-existing section of the Berlin Wall into the so-called 'death strip,' where East German border guards had the order to shoot anyone attempting to flee into West Berlin, at the Bernauer Strasse memorial on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall on November 9, 2009.

Hammers and sickles are embedded in a former piece of the Berlin Wall in an art exhibition in Moscow on November 9, 2009.

People peer through an 11.5 foot (3.5 meter) high wall made out of ice, part of an art installation entitled 'Work In Progress' representing the Berlin Wall, near the German Embassy in central London, Monday, Nov. 9, 2009.

Graffiti drawn on an art installation symbolising parts of the Berlin Wall in central Sofia, Bulgaria on November 9, 2009. The art project, called "The Wall 20", marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain in Europe.

Violinists on pedestals symbolizing the Berlin Wall perform on the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France on Monday Nov. 9, 2009, during a concert commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Slabs of the former Berlin wall inscribed with the number of people who died each year trying to escape from East Germany at the wall Memorial of the Marie-Elisabeth Lueders House of the German parliament on November 7, 2009.

Red roses have been left in a crack in the back wall of a preserved segment of the Berlin wall during a commemorative event to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall in Berlin November 9, 2009.

Bono of U2 performs during a concert in front of the Brandenburg Gate the on November 5, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. U2 performed a free concert in collaboration with MTV Europe to celebrate 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Spectators watch as giant, painted styrofoam dominoes stand along the route of the former Berlin Wall near the Brandenburg Gate on November 9, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. The approximately 1,000 dominoes, painted by schoolchildren and artists all over the world, are meant to symbolically represent the end of communist rule across Eastern Europe and are the highlight of celebrations in the German capitol marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

An honour guard carrying torches at Bellevue Castle on November 9, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. The city of Berlin is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which led to the end of communist rule in East Germany and later on the reunification of East and West Germany.

From left, Gordon Brown, U.K. prime minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, France's president, Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's president, Horst Koehler, Germany's president, Klaus Wowereit, mayor of Berlin, and Hillary Clinton, U.S. secretary of state, walk through the Brandenburg Gate as part of the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, in Berlin, Germany, on Monday, Nov. 9, 2009.

A fireworks display in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on November 9, 2009 during the celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Former polish President Lech Walesa gives the thumbs-up before pushing the first of the painted dominos along the former route of the wall in Berlin on November 9, 2009,

Dominoes collapse along the former border in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Nov. 9, 2009.

Spectators watch as giant styrofoam dominoes topple along the route of the former Berlin Wall near the Brandenburg Gate on November 9, 2009

A tourist simply walks across the old line of the Berlin Wall near "Checkpoint Charlie" in central Berlin, on November 7, 2009.

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