History of Berlin the wall at the Brandenburg Gate in scenes of wild celebration broadcast worldwide. This time no Soviet tanks rolled through Berlin. The wall never closed again, and was soon on its way to demolition, with countless Berliners and tourists wielding hammers and chisels to secure souvenir chunks. On Christmas Day December 25, 1989, the American conductor Leonard Bernstein shared with East and West Berliners and the world his Berlin Celebration Concert in order to celebrate the Fall of the Berlin Wall. "Ode to Joy", which Bernstein had reworded "Ode to Freedom", was performed. After the fall of Communism in Europe,
Berlin Customs Wall thus turning Berlin into a central transport hub for Prussia and the German Customs Union. With the rise of Berlin, new suburbs were built outside the Customs Wall, which increasingly became a hindrance to the continued development of the city. In 1860 the Customs Wall was removed and on 1 January 1861 Berlin amalgamated its suburbs resulting in a doubling of the city's population. The remaining walls were demolished for the most part between 1867 and 1870 - including most of the gates. Only some imposing gates were kept, the Brandenburg Gate being the only one to be rebuilt after