The Fall & Reunification
November 1989 and after — the night the Wall fell, the euphoria, the rebuilding, the new capital and the long work of growing back together.
Part of Berlin
16 moments in this segment.
- — The Mauerspechte. The "wall woodpeckers" — Berliners chipping souvenirs from the concrete with hammers and chisels.
- — Hasselhoff on the Wall. New Year's Eve 1989 — David Hasselhoff sings "Looking for Freedom" on the Wall, an unlikely reunification meme.
- — The Monday Demonstrations. Autumn 1989 — "Wir sind das Volk" — peaceful mass protests across the GDR force the regime to crack.
- — Rostropovich at the Wall. The cellist flies in unannounced and plays Bach beside the broken Wall — a moment of unscripted grace.
- — Bernstein's Ode to Freedom. Christmas 1989 — Leonard Bernstein conducts Beethoven's Ninth in Berlin, "Freude" sung as "Freiheit".
- — Berlin becomes capital again. 1991 — the Bundestag votes to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin.
- — The great transformation. The 1990s sell-off and rebuilding of the bankrupt East — boom, bust, and the long economic reckoning.
- — Christo wraps the Reichstag. Summer 1995 — Christo and Jeanne-Claude shroud the parliament in silver fabric; five million come to see it.
- — The Norman Foster dome. The new glass cupola over the Reichstag (1999) — citizens walk above their parliament, light pouring in.
- — Stolpersteine. The brass "stumbling stones" set in pavements across the city, each naming a victim of Nazi persecution.
- — The new government quarter. The "Band des Bundes" along the Spree bend — the chancellery and parliament buildings of the new republic.
- — Memorial to the Murdered Jews. Peter Eisenman's field of 2,711 concrete stelae near the Brandenburg Gate, opened 2005.
- — Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Europe's largest crossing-station, a cathedral of glass and steel opened for the 2006 World Cup.
- — The night the Wall fell. November 9, 1989 — a bungled press conference, the gates open, and Berliners dance atop the Wall.
- — The Humboldt Forum. The rebuilt Berlin Palace facade housing a new museum — the most contested building project of the new capital.
- — German Reunification. October 3, 1990 — the two Germanys become one; the flag rises over the Reichstag at midnight.
