The opening of the border by the Soviets², allowing people to pass back and forth³ between occupied east and west Berlin, is seen by most historians as the beginning of the end of the Cold War. 

 

Some 8-thousand helium balloons have been released into the night sky over Berlin to mark the anniversary. 

 

Speaking at a wall memorial site, German Chancellor⁴ Angela Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, says the fall of the wall showed the world that dreams could come true. 

 

"It showed that we have the power to shape our destiny and make things better. That is the message of the fall of the Wall. It is directed at us in Germany, but also at others in Europe and the world, especially to people in Ukraine, in Syria, Iraq and other regions where human rights are threatened or violated." 

 

The chancellor was joined later in a ceremony at the Brandenburg Gate by former Polish trade union leader and president Lech Walesa and Mikhail Gorbachev, the final leader of the Soviet¹ Union who was instrumental in bringing the Cold War to an end. 

 

The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 to stop East Germans from fleeing to the West. 

 

At least 138 people were killed trying to escape to West Berlin. 

 

On the night of November 9th, 1989, thousands of East Berliners streamed through the once-closed border crossings after authorities in East Germany caved in to mounting pressure and relaxed travel restrictions⁵ that had prevented their citizens from going to the west for decades. 

 

Within a year of the wall's collapse⁶, Germany - divided after its defeat in World War Two - was reunited.

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