Ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall have taken place as world leaders, past and present, join tens of thousands of tourists and well-wishers on the streets of the city.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, the first German leader to have grown up in communist East Germany, told a ceremony at the historic Brandenburg Gate that German unity was still incomplete, as the East lagged in economic growth.
The fall of the Wall led to the collapse of Communist power and German reunification; it became a symbol for the end of the Cold War.
On 9 November 1989 the East German Politburo member Guenter Schabowski announced that East Germans would be allowed to travel freely to the West.
Two decades on, Mr Schabowski has been reflecting on his role in the events that led to the reunification of Germany.
While Berlin is celebrating the end of the division between East and West, on the Korean peninsula they're still staring at each other across a fortified frontier.
The BBC's John Sudworth is in Imjingak, on border between North and South Korea- the last frontier of the cold war.
First broadcast 9 November 2009