Photos:: The Berlin Wall

East German border guards look through a gap in the Berlin Wall.  (Lionel Cironneau / Associated Press)

A man atop the Berlin Wall near the Brandenburg Gate chisels off a piece of history.  (Jockel Finck / Associated Press)

Before-and-after pictures show the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate in 1989 and below in November 2009, with giant painted “domino” stones marking the former course of the wall. One thousand of these “dominos” have been set up between the Reichstag building, Brandenburg Gate and Potsdam Square and will symbolically fall over to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9.  (Wolfgang Kumm / EPA)

Pictures taken 20 years apart show the German Reichstag building, background left, in 1989, with the Berlin Wall running past it, and in 2009, below.  (John MacDougall / AFP/Getty Images)

Visitors look at a still-standing section of the Berlin Wall, behind which lies the so-called death strip, where East German guards had the order to shoot on sight anyone attempting to flee across to West Berlin. Also shown is an old guard tower, re-erected for the Berlin Wall Memorial.  (Sean Gallup / Getty Images)

BERLIN, GERMANY, 2009: The famous Checkpoint Charlie today. The actual checkpoint was a large area with barriers and no-mans-land shoot zone. Today a guard shack from another checkpoint has been moved there to mark the spot of what now is a busy city street. The East German solider portrait is backed by a U.S. soldier portrait noting the two sides of the checkpoint.  (Richard Derk / Los Angeles Times)

People read the names of east Germans who died trying to cross the Berlin wall, at a memorial for victims of the wall near the Reichstag building in Berlin November 6, 2009. Germany celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall on November 9, 2009.   (JOHN MACDOUGALL / AFP / Getty Images)

The Quadriga statue stands illuminated on top of the Brandenburg Gate on November 7, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. The city of Berlin is to commemorate the 20th anniversary of fall of the Berlin Wall with a spectacular evening event on November 9.   (Photo by Sean Gallup / Getty Images)

BERLIN - NOVEMBER 07: Giant, painted, styrofoam dominoes stand in a long row in front of the illuminated Brandenburg Gate on November 7, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. The over 1,000 dominoes, which run along approximately one mile in the Berlin city center and that will be tipped over to symbolize the fall of communist governments throughout Eastern Europe in 1989, are to be the highlight of celebrations in Berlin on November 9 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of fall of the Berlin Wall.   (Sean Gallup / Getty Images)