THOUSANDS of cheering Germans re-enacted the moment the Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago – toppling 1,000 huge graffiti-adorned dominoes that tumbled past the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of the capital.
Last night's spectacle – billed by organisers as a metaphor for the way the real Cold War icon came down and resulted in the fall of communist countries in eastern Europe – was the finale after a series of memorial services, speeches and events marking the anniversary.
"Looking back, we can see many causes that led to the peaceful revolution, but it still remains a miracle," German president Horst Koehler told the leaders of all 27 European Union countries, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown along with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who were invited to attend the ceremony.
Angela Merkel – Germany's first chancellor to be raised in the former communist east – called the events of 9 November, 1989, an "epic" moment.
"For me, it was one of the happiest moments of my life," Ms Merkel told a crowd of tens of thousands packed around the Brandenburg Gate.
In a video message screened at the main event, US president Barack Obama paid tribute to the dissidents and demonstrators who ushered in the fall of the wall 20 years ago.
"Let us never forget 9 November, 1989, nor the sacrifices that made it possible," Mr Obama said to applause and cheers.
Mr Brown insisted the tide of history was moving towards our "best hopes".
The Prime Minister said the events of 1989 showed that "no abuse, no crime, no injury need endure for ever".
Mr Brown told the crowds: "This wall was torn down not by the demands of political leaders, not by diktat from on high, not by the force of military might, but by the greatest force of all: the unbreakable spirit of the men and women of Berlin.
"You dared to dream in the darkness. You knew that while force has the temporary power to dominate, it can never ultimately dictate.
"You proved there is nothing that cannot be achieved by people inspired by the power of common purpose."
Mr Brown went on: "Let me thank you, the people of Berlin, for showing that in a troubled world with an Africa in poverty, and a Darfur in agony, a Zimbabwe in tears and a Burma in chains, individuals even when in pain need not suffer forever without hope …
"What has happened here in Berlin tells the world that the tides of history may ebb and flow, but that across the ages history is moving towards our best hopes, not our worst fears; towards light not darkness; and towards the fulfilment of our humanity, not its denial."
Chancellor Merkel also recalled the tragic side of 9 November for Germans – the Nazi's Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass – an anti-Semitic pogrom 71 years ago.
At least 91 German Jews were killed, hundreds of synagogues destroyed, and thousands of Jewish businesses vandalised and looted in the state-sanctioned riots that night.
"Both show that freedom is not self evident," Ms Merkel said. "Freedom must be fought for. Freedom must be defended time and again. Freedom is the most valuable commodity in our political and social system."
Earlier, Ms Merkel and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev stood shoulder to shoulder as they crossed a former fortified border crossing point between East and West Berlin to cheers of "Gorby! Gorby!"
Uwe Kross, 65, fought back tears as he recalled watching the drama unfold two decades ago, hours after a confused announcement that East Germany was lifting travel restrictions.
"That night, you couldn't stop people," Mr Kross said. "They lifted the barrier and everyone poured through.
"We saw it first on TV, normally it was very quiet up here, but that night we could hear the footsteps of those crossing, tap, tap, tap."
Ms Merkel, who was one of thousands to cross to the West that night, recalled that "before the joy of freedom came, many people suffered".
Last night, she praised Mr Gorbachev, with whom she shared an umbrella amid a crush of hundreds, eager for a glimpse of the man many still consider a hero for his role in pushing reform in the Soviet Union.
"You made this possible – you courageously let things happen, and that was much more than we could expect," she said.
Later, Chancellor Merkel also thanked Germany's neighbours to the east, and welcomed several leaders who had dared to stand up for democracy, including Poland's 1980s pro-democracy leader, Lech Walesa, and Miklos Nemeth, Hungary's last prime minister before communism collapsed.
Music from Bon Jovi and Beethoven recalled the joy of the border's opening, which led to German reunification less than a year later and the swift demolition of most of the 96-mile wall around West Berlin, a capitalist enclave inside East Germany.
In the decades that the wall stood, 136 people were killed trying to make their way across the border.
In pictures: The celebrations in Berlin yesterday
Politburo man's mistake that opened floodgates to the WestAS MILLIONS recall the night the Berlin Wall came down, few will remember the Politburo official whose throwaway remark helped to change the course of history.
At the end of a plodding news conference, Günter Schabowski offhandedly said East Germany was lifting restrictions on travel across its border with West Germany. Pressed on when the regulation would take effect, he looked down at his notes and stammered: "As far as I know, this enters into force… this is immediately, without delay."
Mr Schabowski has said he didn't know that the change was not supposed to be announced until the following morning, but by then it was too late, and East Berliners streamed towards border crossings.
Facing huge crowds and lacking instructions from above, border guards opened the gates – and the Wall was on its way into history.
Mr Schabowski has admitted there had been a breakdown in communication with his party boss, Egon Krenz. Later, he tried to clarify his comments and said the new rules would take hold at midnight, but events moved faster as the word spread.
At a remote crossing in south Berlin, Annemarie Reffert and her 15-year-old daughter made history by becoming the first East Germans citizens to cross the border.
Ms Reffert, now 66, remembers the East German soldiers being at a loss when she tried to cross the border.
"I argued that Schabowski said we were allowed to go over," she said. The border soldiers relented. A customs official was astonished that she had no luggage.
"All we wanted was to see if we really could travel," she said.
Sarkozy post sparks rowNICOLAS Sarkozy has been accused of placing a Facebook entry falsely suggesting he was in Berlin the day the wall began to fall.
French journalists who covered the events of 9 November, 1989, raised alarm bells over the note on the president's Facebook page, posted on the social networking website yesterday.
The "memories of the fall" post is topped by a picture of Mr Sarkozy appearing to chip away at a graffiti-covered wall.
However, newspaper archives suggest Mr Sarkozy went a week later. French websites and airwaves yesterday obsessed about Mr Sarkozy's whereabouts in 1989. The debate threatened to overshadow a costly concert and light show in Paris last night to celebrate the anniversary.
