Brandenburg Gate August 1961. West Berliners gathered on the western side of the gate to demonstrate against the Berlin Wall, among them West Berlin's governing Mayor Willy Brandt, who had spontaneously returned from a federal election campaigning tour in West Germany earlier on the same day. It was closed throughout the Berlin Wall period until 22 December 1989. When the Revolutions of 1989 occurred and the wall was demolished, the gate symbolized freedom and the desire to unify the city of Berlin. Thousands of people gathered at the wall to celebrate its fall on 9 November 1989. On 22 December 1989, the
Brandenburg Hauptbahnhof Railway from Treuenbrietzen via Brandenburg to Neustadt (Dosse) went into operation in 1904. Today, only the section between Brandenburg and Rathenow is still in use. The Brandenburg Towns Railway had its own station called Brandenburg Neustadt (Brandenburg new town) next to the main station and it later became part of the main station. The West Havelland District Railway ("Westhavelländische Kreisbahnen") line (opened in 1901 and closed in the 1960s) did not reach the main station. The terminus of the route in the city of Brandenburg was at the Krakauer Tor (Cracow Gate) station in the north-east of the town, a