'Berlin was an anomaly and the Soviets were eager to incorporate the city into their German satellite state'

Football is never truly important, but the Miracle of Bern in 1954 is probably as close as it gets

The prospect of a united Germany faced huge hostility but became a reality just 11 months after the Berlin Wall fell

US-based historian Fritz Stern has lived through five incarnations of Germany

What have been the consequences of German unification for Europe and the world?

Berlin 25: Fall of the Wall 25th anniversary

Revelations about the extent of Stasi power in East Germany have got in the way of a more rounded look at life there – until now

Pride in an ability to repair almost anything is no longer valued: why repair a broken fridge if you can buy a new one

How Germany’s so called ‘unity generation’ – those born around 1989 when the Berlin Wall tumbled – view the country’s divided past

The Berlin Wall’s fall was a death knell for a Soviet bloc in which the first fissures had appeared elsewhere

Germans have to reconcile how they view themselves with how their neighbours in Europe see them

Courage of people far beyond the divided city had already undermined and weakened Europe's most infamous structure

Lack of economic pressure and a sense of being cut off from the surrounding world encouraged creative experimentation in 1980s West Berlin