Revolution

Brandenburg Gate

Stiftung Haus der Geschichte/Stephan Klonk|picture alliance/imageBROKER|Norbert Michalke

The Brandenburg Gate 2022 and people on the Wall at the Gate on November 10, 1989.

BRANDENBURG GATE

Symbol of Division, Unity, Freedom

For almost three decades, the walled-in Brandenburg Gate could be seen from both the East and the West, yet it was unreachable. Finally, on November 9, 1989, the people peacefully conquered this place of longing. Today the Gate is a stage for celebrations and demonstrations, and its symbolic impact is enormous.

LISTEN TO HISTORY

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It was the night that changed everything. The GDR leadership accidentally announced the opening of the Wall on November 9, 1989, shortly before 7 p.m. This unexpected news was disseminated on television and radio in the East and the West. Shortly after, approximately 5,000 people gathered on the West side of the Brandenburg Gate. At 9.03 p.m., the first person dared to climb the four-metre thick concrete wall. In the course of the evening, more and more followed. On the East side, GDR soldiers held the people back until 1 a.m., then hundreds of East Berliners pushed towards the Brandenburg Gate. “Even for those who do not tend to show emotions – this was an unforgettable moment. Strangers hugged each other. Many cried. We walked through the entry points between the columns, back and forth. Again and again…some caressed the cold stone”, a journalist from West Berlin recalled.

Since 1961, a deadly border had divided Berlin. It prevented people from the GDR from fleeing to the free West Berlin. For 28 years, the symbol of the division was the Brandenburg Gate. Unreachable, it was located between blockades and watchtowers. Until this very night.

On December 22, 1989, politicians from East and West officially opened the Gate. On the following New Year’s Eve, people celebrated and stormed this famous landmark. Youths took down the GDR flag and hoisted the German and European flags instead. But the monument also suffered from this rush: The next morning, several leaves of the laurel wreath of the bronze goddess of victory on top of the Gate were missing.

From 2000 on, the Gate was thoroughly renovated and reopened two years later on the Day of German Unity on October 3. While cars and motorcycles used to be able to drive through the Brandenburg Gate, it has been closed down to motorized vehicles since the renovation and thus became a freely accessible place for all. The scenery has changed enormously over the years, as the square east of the Brandenburg Gate was rebuilt in the 1990s, with two embassies and a luxurious hotel among others.

Today, the Brandenburg Gate is a magnet for people from all over the world who capture the landmark on countless photos. They celebrate New Year’s Eve here, the Day of German Unity, or rally around the German national football team. All in the course of a history that eventually did have a happy ending. Today, the Brandenburg Gate is a symbol of German Unity.

BRANDENBURG GATE

Contemporary Witnesses Report

On the night of November 9, 1989, huge crowds of people climbed onto the Wall at the Brandenburg Gate. Three people who were there that night recall how emotionally they experienced the fall of the Wall.

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Intro

Peter Brinkmann was as a journalist at Brandenburg Gate.

Marlene Matakas was popping the champagne corks at the Brandenburg Gate.

Bärbel Reinke wanted to pass the gate during that night.

Listen to Memories Read Memories

Brandenburg Gate

The night the Berlin Wall fell, on November 9, 1989, people from East and West cheered as they climbed the Wall at the Brandenburg Gate. They fell into each others arms and even hammered pieces out of the concrete Wall: emotional images that will be remembered.

CONTEMPORARY WITNESS

Peter Brinkmann

As a journalist for the West German tabloid Bild, Peter Brinkmann experienced the events on site.

“Then they used water cannons. The Brandenburg Gate had been stormed from the West. People from the West jumped over the Wall. That was the great difference. There was no wall like the one at the Brandenburg Gate. At the Brandenburg Gate, the Wall was first of all lower, so that one could climb onto it, and it was broader. The people from the West just climbed onto it and then jumped into the East, into this forecourt of the Wall. And when the people from the East arrived and saw that, it filled up from both sides, and they fraternized. But then the guards came. They went right in there. They pushed people back. I experienced that, I was there. You can also see that in some of the television images. The guards pushed us back towards the East. The people who were on the West side of the Brandenburg Gate, in that roundabout of the Wall, they were pushed away with the water cannons.”

CONTEMPORARY WITNESS

Marlene Matakas

Marlene Matakas was a teacher in West Berlin. When she learned about the fall of the Wall on television on November 9, 1989, tears came to her eyes. She recalls driving straight to the Wall to join the celebration.

"We went to the Brandenburg Gate. We tucked several bottles of champagne under our arms and, I don’t know why, but we thought this was worthy to have some drinks. And then we went off and we even found each other in the crowd. My friend immediately climbed the Wall. You cannot imagine how emotional this was. Complete strangers fell into each other’s arms. As if the entire population had been replaced.”

CONTEMPORARY WITNESS

Bärbel Reinke

Bärbel Reinke from East Berlin dreamed of walking through the Brandenburg Gate to West Berlin just once. She talks about how she couldn’t make it to the West on the night the Wall fell.

"In front of me was a line of soldiers, shoulder to shoulder! A wall, border soldiers. This cannot be true I thought. Bärbel, this cannot be true. You want to go through here now. You have to go through here. Your husband is on the other side. What are you doing now? You have to go through here, there’s no other possibility! He is over there and that’s the only way! I want to go through here now. All of you can do what you want to, but I want to go through here now.”

Close Memories

Snapshots

People stand on a viewing platform in West Berlin and look towards the Brandenburg Gate behind the Wall. In the foreground, a sign reads in English and German: End of British Sector. Do not pass this point. — Hans-Peter Stiebing/Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo

View to the Other Side

In November 1988, onlookers took a peek over the Wall towards the East. There were several such platforms in West Berlin, whereas in the East, there was only the one at the Brandenburg Gate. It was reserved for state guests.

Border soldiers lined up next to each other, blocking the Brandenburg Gate. — ullstein bild/Jürgen Ritter

Block Chain

On November 9, GDR border soldiers gave way to the people who hustled towards the Brandenburg Gate. Two days later they closed the eastern access to the Gate again.

A container located to the side of the Brandenburg Gate is surrounded by many people with umbrellas. People on top of a Wall section hold up a sign that reads Come together. — picture alliance/dpa|dpa Fotografen

A Storm of People

On December 22, politicians from East and West officially opened the Gate. In containers were officers who were supposed to check those entering and leaving the country.

A black-red-gold striped state flag of the GDR with the symbol of the hammer and sickle in the centre, partly torn off. — Stiftung Haus der Geschichte/Mario Eska

Battered State Symbol

This GDR flag hung on the Brandenburg Gate in East Berlin until New Year’s Eve 1989 when youths took it down, tore off the GDR state symbol and hoisted the German and European flags instead. Today it can be found in the Zeitgeschichtliches Forum Leipzig.

The Brandenburg Gate is covered by an advertisement banner of the Deutsche Telekom. The banner depicts the adjacent buildings and parts of the Gate. At that time, cars are able to drive through the centre of the Gate. — Ziko van Dijk (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2001-brandenburgertor-verhuellt.jpg), „2001-brandenburgertor-verhuellt“, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

Open to Cars

During the renovation in 2001, cars were able to drive through the Brandenburg Gate. It was closed to motorised vehicles the following year.

Pupils demonstrate for climate protection in front of the Brandenburg Gate. A sign in the foreground reads There is no planet B. — ullstein|imageBROKER/Nathalie Lieckfeld

Demonstration for the Future

In May 2019, pupils expressed their demand for more climate protection. Several times a week, demonstrators gathered at the Brandenburg Gate.

BRANDENBURGER TOR

Places Nearby

Discover additional places related to Revolution, Unity and Transformation nearby. The sites on the map are less than 1 kilometer away. Continue exploring Berlin.

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Pariser Platz
10117 Berlin
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