Photo Gallery A Single Republic
The 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is rapidly approaching and Germany unity is 24 years old on Friday. But did East Germany simply disappear? No. There are plenty of elements of today's country that can be traced back to its formerly communist half. This image is from Nov. 11, 1989, two days after free movement through the Berlin Wall became possible.
Here, the Berlin Wall still under construction in Potsdamer Platz in 1961. Despite the separation, East and West Germans remained very similar to each other and share a common mentality.
A man swinging a sledgehammer at the Berlin Wall on Nov. 12, 1989 at Potsdamer Platz. Chancellor Angela Merkel has introduced elements of her East German upbringing into political Berlin.
German President Joachim Gauck likewise grew up in East Germany. He was no resistance fighter, yet he was a civil rights activist. He injects his energetic approach to freedom into German politics, along with the message that freedom must be fought for or defended, with armed force, if necessary.
