Berlin - Thousands flocked Sunday to the centre of Berlin ahead of celebrations to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the barrier that divided Germany until 1989 - symbolized Sunday by a row of giant domino stones set up throughout the city. The German capital has been gearing up for a fanfare of events marking Monday's anniversary of November 9th, 1989, the day that the
Berlin Wall separating Germany's communist East from the West was first breached.
Official events began at the German Parliament, which commemorated the efforts of European civil-rights activists in bringing down Eastern Europe's communist regimes, in the presence of Chancellor Angela Merkel, government officials and numerous diplomats.
"The people east of the Iron Curtain only had their large hearts to set against the tanks, but they still were victorious," Polish former prime minister Jerzy Buzek, who currently heads the European Parliament, told German legislators.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a speech in Berlin on the legacy of the Wall and Europe's communist divide.
"The landscape of the continent was transformed," Clinton recalled, as she addressed dignitaries at a dinner hosted by the Atlantic Council, a US-based political think-tank.
She called on leaders to tear down the walls of the 21st century, adding that there was nothing inevitable about "that moment when history pierced concrete and concertina wire."
The Atlantic Council awarded its inaugural Freedom's Challenge prizes to key players in the events of 1989, in the presence of dignitaries including US former secretary of state Henry Kissinger.
Clinton accepted the recognition on behalf of the American people, while German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle was awarded on behalf of all Germans. Other recipients included the Polish, Czech and Slovak people, as well as the city of Berlin.
During the weekend, thousands of people braved chilling, foggy conditions to visit a temporary wall of huge dominoes running through central Berlin, decorated by artists and school pupils from Germany and around the world.
The stones, in a line spanning 1.5 kilometres from the Potsdamer Platz to the Reichstag building, will be toppled during Monday's celebrations to echo the events that began in early 1989 in Poland and ended with the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
Jacquelina Bachstein from former East Germany brought her two young daughters to the place where her world once ended and the West began.
"This is a very emotional day," the 35-year-old said, tears rolling down her cheeks. "When the Wall came down, we could finally go to see our family members on the other side. This really means a lot to me."
Ingrid Richter, also from the former East Berlin, was enthusiastic about the crowds of people who had come to see the dominoes.
"It is really a great atmosphere. I was here in 1989. Everything has changed, absolutely everything," she beamed.
Others had a hard time comprehending that the city had once been divided.
"This side was the West, and over there was East Berlin, I think," one woman explained to visitors, pointing toward the Brandenburg gate.
Modern-day Berlin bears few reminders of the concrete walls, barbed wire, observation posts and the death strip that ran through its centre until 20 years ago.
The longest remaining stretch of the Wall, known as the East Side Gallery, was officially reopened Friday after its political artwork spanning 1.3 kilometres was refurbished over the previous months.
The chancellor - who grew up in East Germany - will retrace her own steps at the Bornholmer Bridge crossing, where she was among the first to enter West Berlin after East German authorities unexpectedly opened the border 20 years ago.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are to take part alongside Merkel in events at Berlin's landmark Brandenburg Gate.
Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and Polish former opposition leader and later president Lech Walesa are also due to attend.
Monday's celebrations include a performance by the Berlin State Orchestra conducted by Israeli Daniel Barenboim, while US rocker Jon Bon Jovi and Berlin music producer Paul van Dyk are staging music written for the anniversary. Last week, Irish pop band U2 staged a free concert at the Brandenburg Gate.
Once the dominoes have been toppled, the celebrations will end with a huge firework, recalling the joyous scenes of 20 years ago as people partied the night away on top of Berlin's defunct Wall.
