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Germany marks 25 years since fall of Berlin Wall

FILE - In this Nov. 10, 1989 file photo Berliners sing and dance on top of The Berlin Wall to celebrate the opening of East-West German borders. Thousands of East German citizens moved into the West after East German authorities opened all border crossing points to the West. In the background is the Brandenburg Gate. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle) FILE - In this Nov. 10, 1989 file photo Berliners sing and dance on top of The Berlin Wall to celebrate the opening of East-West German borders. Thousands of East German citizens moved into the West after East German authorities opened all border crossing points to the West. In the background is the Brandenburg Gate. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle)

By Associated Press November 9, 2014 1 min read

BERLIN (AP) – Germany is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the night the Berlin Wall fell.

The Nov. 9, 1989, brought to a climax the fight for freedom by East Germans against the communist regime.

Formal festivities are due to begin with a trumpet call at 10 a.m. (0900 GMT) Sunday, evoking the biblical trumpets that brought down the wall of Jericho.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, will deliver a speech and place a rose in one of the few remaining sections of the Wall to commemorate those who died trying to escape to the west.

On Saturday, she said the fall of the Wall showed that “the human longing for freedom can’t be suppressed forever.”