Leaders of the two Germanys reopened the Brandenburg Gate today, breaching a barrier that more than any other had come to symbolize the division of the nation.
Tens of thousands of Germans, oblivious to a steady drizzle, packed both sides of Berlin's most famous gate to celebrate the formal inauguration of two new pedestrian crossings by West Germany's Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, and East Germany's new Prime Minister, Hans Modrow.
Although it has been six weeks since the Berlin wall fell open and at least half the East Germans have visited the West, the reopening of the two-century-old landmark offered symbolic confirmation that the German nation was again seeking to become whole. The End of an Era
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