subject: Berlin's Attractions: The Brandenburg Gate [print this page] When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they used the gate as a symbol of their power. In 1945, the gate was the only high building among the ruins of the Pariser Platz. In the Hall of Silence, built in one of the rooms of security guards in the northern part of the Gate, visitors are invited to remember and reflect on the past of Germany. After the World War II, the Gate was restored by the governments of the Eastern and Western Berlin. However, in 1961, it was cut in two by the newly built Berlin Wall that divided the eastern and western parts of the city, and the monument was closed to the public. It was re-opened only on 22nd December 1989, when the Berlin Wall was finally demolished and the West Germany Chancellor Helmut Kohl entered the Gate to welcome the East Germany Prime Minister Hans Modrow. Since then, the Brandenburg Gate has become a symbol of peace and unity of Berlin.
