Germany cheers 25 years since Berlin Wall's fall: PICS

Former easterner Ronny Kraft, 34, told that the commemorations were of "great importance" for him because "the fall of the Wall marked my personal history". At the Bornholmer Strasse border crossing where an East German guard made the snap decision on the night of November 9, 1989 to open the barrier, an elderly woman was reduced to tears, while parents explained to young children about the Wall. Harald Jaeger, the guard who, overwhelmed by large crowds,finally gave the order to open the barrier in 1989, told last week that he planned to attend today's events. Merkel today will also open a major exhibition on Bernauer Strasse, a street divided by the Wall that saw harrowing scenes of families and neighbours ripped apart when the Wall went up overnight. The East German authorities built the Wall, which they called an "Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart", in August 1961 to halt a mass exodus to the West.