20 years ago on the night of November 9, 1989 after weeks of pro-democracy protests, the authorities of East Germany opened the border with West Germany.  After 28 years of imprisonment in their own country, East Germany moved towards the control points by the astonished guards. Thousands of Germans and world leaders gathered Nov. 9, 2009 in Berlin to celebrate the “Mauerfall” – the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany – and recall the 100-200 dead while trying to cross the border.  In this issue are pictures of different years associated with the Berlin Wall.

Smoke from the fireworks surrounding the Quadriga of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin after the official welcoming ceremony in honor of the anniversary of the reunification of Germany on Nov. 9, 2009. (LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)

Boy waving soldiers at the Berlin wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate on Nov. 10, 1989. (John Tlumacki/Boston Globe staff)

People stand on the part of the Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz, which was open. morning of 11 November 1989. (John Tlumacki/Boston Globe staff)

BG East Berlin is the Berlin wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate on Nov. 11, 1989. (REUTERS/Staff/File) (REUTERS / Staff / File)

Soldiers of Frontier Service of East Germany in the doorway of the demolished part of the wall demonstrators in Brandenburg Gate on Nov. 11, 1989. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

In this photo of the German Reichstag building (left) with the Berlin Wall on Nov. 10, 1989. (GERARD MALIE/JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images)

A photo of this same place, only now without the wall 20 years later, on Oct. 20, 2009. (GERARD MALIE/JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images)

The actress dressed as an angel standing on the roof of a building in Berlin on November 9, 2009

Sickles and hammers are built into part of the former Berlin Wall on display in Moscow on November 9, 2009. (DMITRY KOSTYUKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

People are looking at 3.5-meter wall of ice, which is part of the exhibition entitled “Work in progress”, representing the Berlin Wall, not far from the German embassy in London on November 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

A woman passes by the tiles of the former Berlin Wall, with the number of people killed each year while trying to flee in eastern Germany

Spectators look at the huge foam dominoes standing on the former site of the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate on Nov. 9, 2009 in Berlin.  Around 1,000 dominoes, painted by schoolchildren and artists from around the world

Dominoes fall along the former route of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Eckehard Schulz)

Tourist passes along the old line of the Berlin Wall near the checkpoint Charlie in central Berlin on November 7, 2009. (Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images)