The Fall of the Berlin Wall

East Berliners get helping hands from West Berliners as they climb the Berlin Wall, which had divided the city since the end of World War II, near the Brandenburg Gate, early morning, Nov. 10, 1989. The citizens facing the West celebrate the opening order that was announced by the East German Communist government hours before.

East German citizens are applauded by West Berliners when they cross Checkpoint Charlie with their cars to visit West Berlin, Nov. 10, 1989. Thousands of East Germans moved into West Berlin after the opening of the wall by East German government. Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

A man sits atop the wall near the Brandenburg gate, Nov. 10, 1989, as he chisels a piece from the wall that had divided East and West Berlin. Thousands of East Berlin citizens came into the western part after the border opened, unifying East and West Germany.

East German border guards look through a hole in the Berlin wall after demonstrators pulled down one segment of the wall at the Brandenburg Gate in this Nov. 11, 1989, file picture. Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

A man hammers away at the Berlin Wall, as the border barrier between East and West Germany was torn down after 28 years, in this Nov. 12, 1989, file picture.

Berliners celebrate on top of the wall as East Germans flood through the dismantled Berlin Wall into West Berlin at Potsdamer Platz, in this Nov. 12, 1989, file picture.

Through The Cracks — AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

A tourist takes a photo through a gap of two concrete plates of the former Berlin Wall at the wall memorial on Bernauer Street in Berlin, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008, prior to the 47th anniversary remembrance celebration of the construction of the wall.

A boy touches the concrete plates of the east side of the former Berlin Wall at the wall memorial at Bernauer Street in Berlin, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009, prior to the 48th anniversary remembrance celebration of the construction of the Wall.

A tourist puts her hand on a painting on a segment of East Side Gallery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009. The same 118 artists from 21 countries who created the paintings in 1990 will repaint their pictures in the world's longest open-air art gallery after replacement of the concrete surface of the Wall.

Tourists take photographs of a painting on a segment of the reopened East Side Gallery in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. The same artists from 21 countries who created the paintings in 1990 repainted their pictures in the world's longest open-air art gallery after replacement of the concrete surface of the Wall.

Tourists pass a painting on a segment of the reopened East Side Gallery in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. The 105 wall paintings of the former Berlin Wall were restored for the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall in November 2009.