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Berlin Wall: When the Wall Stood and Today

Berlin's appearance has changed enormously since the fall on Nov. 9, 1989 of the Berlin Wall, which for nearly three decades divided the communist east from the city's west — a capitalist enclave deep inside East Germany.



East Germany disappeared less than a year later when the country was reunited, and much of the wall also was demolished quickly — though a few sections still remain at their original sites.

This photo gallery compares iconic images of the Berlin Wall when it stood with the same locations in the reunified German capital today.

To learn more about the fall of the Berlin Wall and AP's coverage through the years, visit AP Explore.


The combo shows East-German policemen in work dress as they remove barbed wire from a brick wall while other policemen in the background are raising the wall to 15 feet at the border between the French and Russian sector at Bernauer Strasse in Berlin on Sept. 9, 1961 and the line of  the former Berlin Wall in the pavement at Bernauer Strasse in Berlin on Oct. 21, 2014 - 25 years after the fall of the wall. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

The combo shows construction work at the Berlin Wall on Aug. 13, 1985 on Friedrichstrasse near checkpoint Charlie and Friedrichstrasse Oct. 2, 2014 - 25 years after the fall of the wall. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

The combo shows a child playing on a play ground at the Berlin wall in July 1981 and cars parking at the same spot in Berlin's Kreuzberg district on Oct. 2, 2014 - 25 years after the fall of the wall. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)


The combo shows the Brandenburg Gate landmark in Berlin with people dancing on the Berlin Wall on Nov. 10, 1989 and 25 years after in October 2014. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, Markus Schreiber)

The combo shows east Berlin citizens crowding the new passage at Bernauer Strasse in Berlin where East German border police tore down segments of the wall on Nov. 11, 1989 and people walking at the crossing Bernauer Strasse and Oderberger Strasse on Oct. 26, 2014 - 25 years after the fall of the wall. (AP Photos/Rudi Blaha, Markus Schreiber)

The combo shows the Berlin Wall checkpoint at Heinrich-Heine-Strasse on March 12, 1971 and people walking and cycling at the area of former checkpoint at district Kreuzberg in Berlin on Oct. 1, 2014 - 25 years after the fall of the wall. (AP Photos/Edwin Reichert, Markus Schreiber)


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The combo shows children playing at the Berlin Wall at Sebastianstrasse near Heinrich-Heine-Strasse in 1968 and a man walking over the once divided Sebastianstrasse on Nov. 3, 2014 - 25 years after the fall of the wall. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

The combo shows West Berliners waving to relatives in East Berlin one year after the Berlin Wall was erected at Bernauer Strasse on Aug. 13, 1962 and people crossing the area of the former Berlin Wall in Berlin on Oct. 26, 2014 - 25 years after the fall of the wall. (AP Photo/Werner Kreusch, Markus Schreiber)



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Opening text from the AP news story, Berlin When the Wall Stood and Today.

Additional photos from the AP news story, 11 Photos Showing the Berlin Wall Today.

 

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