On the night of November the tenth, 1989 the Berlin Wall - that ugly symbol of a divided
world - was breached by thousands of cheering young Germans, united for the first time in
a generation.
The BBC's Brian Hanrahan witnessed their celebration.
Brian Hanrahan: "In the centre of divided Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate
straddles the border, normally forbidden to people from
both sides.
Troops stood guard over it and when the first West Berliners tried to breach the wall, the
guards tried to drive them back with fire hoses.
But this night they, too, were forced to retreat in the face of people power.
Once they had gone, Berliners from both East and West linked hands and danced round their
liberated territory.
"Behind them, others clambered playfully up and down on the Berlin Wall itself - something
people used to be shot for."
Young person on wall: "It doesn't matter anymore because East Berliners can
came to West Berlin and West Berliners can go to East
Berlin without visas.
It's great!"
Brian Hanrahan: "And with nobody to stop them it wasn't long before the
first attempts were made to destroy the structure itself."
"Everybody was testing how far they could stretch their new freedoms.
"But this will need to be more than a piece of 'November madness' to wipe out the bitter
memories of the past."
Despite the euphoria of that joyous Berlin night, the dream of uniting the two parts
of Germany was to turn into an economic nightmare.
But on that November night no one worried about that.
Freedom was enough.