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

Germany marks 25 years since the euphoric fall of the Berlin Wall today with more than a million people expected to join tributes, festivities and an open-air party with freedom icons and rock stars.Chancellor Angela Merkel leads commemorations for those killed trying to flee communist East Germany, ahead of a giant festival to celebrate the peaceful revolution that ended Europe's Cold War division on November 9, 1989. Merkel, 60, who grew up under the repressive eastern regime, said in her weekly podcast yesterday that the reunified capital of Berlin had become "almost a symbol of Europe's unification after the Cold War". "This city has written history," she said later at an event held at Berlin's modern art museum, the Neue Nationalgalerie. "The human urge for freedom cannot be subdued in the long run."