Today in History—December 22: “The Heart of Berlin Hangs On This Gate”
Just after midnight on December 22, 1989, workers punched a hole in the Brandenburg Gate. Once the first openings were made, West German police officers and East German border guards shook hands. Germans on both sides cheered in the darkness, celebrating with sparkling wine.
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Later that day, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl walked through the gate’s center arch—once reserved for royalty—to meet East German Prime Minister Hans Modrow. Thousands of Germans on either side stood in the rain and applauded.
“The heart of Berlin hangs on this gate,” West Berlin Mayor Walter Momper remarked (translated from German). “Life will become normal again, life will become even more beautiful.”
The Brandenburg Gate’s neoclassical arches and columns had survived Prussian kings, Napoleon’s invasion, and Nazi occupation. But in 1961, when the East German government erected the Berlin Wall—a concrete symbol of the Cold War divide—the gate was sealed.
For decades it remained closed, representing the ideological separation between communist East Berlin and democratic West Berlin. Then, on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall came down: When the East German government announced that travel restrictions would be lifted, jubilant crowds flooded checkpoints and even began physically dismantling the wall, chipping away with hammers and pickaxes.
After that joyful but chaotic demonstration, leaders opted for a formal reopening of the Brandenburg Gate six weeks later.
So, why did the wall come down?
The divide began after World War II, when Germany and its capital were carved up by Allied leaders. The U.S., British, and French sections of Berlin became West Berlin, and the Soviet Union took control of East Berlin. Germany split in 1949, and in 1952 the border between East and West Germany was closed. In 1961 the Berlin Wall went up, separating families overnight.
Napoleon took part of the Brandenburg Gate home to France in 1806 to celebrate conquering Berlin. (It was returned in 1814, after his defeat.)
By the 1980s, however, Communism was on the ropes in much of Europe. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union’s newly elected general secretary of the Communist Party, Mikhail Gorbachev, promised openness, increased transparency, and reform.
In 1987 U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan famously entreated, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
Eventually, they did.
- Related Topics:
- triumphal arch
- December
Germany reunited less than a year after the wall fell, and the Brandenburg Gate was returned to its original purpose: a peaceful welcome to the heart of the city.
Related Links- 302: Guard towers along the Berlin Wall
- 1963: Year JFK delivered his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech
- 213 feet: Width of the Brandenburg Gate (comparable to a soccer field)
- 1882: Electric lights are used to decorate a Christmas tree for the first time
- 1962: The NBA reaches a milestone: 1 million points scored
- 2018: The second longest government shutdown in U.S. history begins
