Watch this Just do it. Even if you can't understand a single word of German, the visuals in this special, which aired on the German national network ZDF, are a powerful attest to the amazing, world-changing events that occurred 25 years ago. If you were alive at that time and if you have any interest in recent European history, you've probably seen the videos previously of the night the Berlin Wall fell. You'll see them here, but you'll also see some other amazing but lesser-known moments captured on film, including the Monday protests in Leipzig (watch as the paid DDR thugs try to break up the protest but are shamed by the crowds under the sharp glare of the international media), the flight of DDR refugees through the Hungarian-Austrian border when it briefly opened, the cheers erupting in Prague when other DDR refugees are granted passage to the West, the massive demonstrations in Dresden, the huge protest in Leipzig where the crowd is shouting "Keine Gewalt!" ("No violence"), the protest that erupted outside the Berlin Palace of the People when Gorbatchev visited DDR leader Eric Honneker, the famous press conference where a DDR functionary accidently declared the East-West border open immediately, and finally, the spotaneous outpouring of sheer joy when the hated Wall was finally breached.
If the state of the world today makes you depressed... these powerful images can't help but provide a much-needed antidote. The fact that Vladimir Putin could witness these events in Dresden first-hand and later declare them as a "catastrophe" shows just what an unfortunate abyss into which Russia has now descended. Relive these events, and breath a sense of hope for the future of Europe. And... gaze in wonder at those late 80's hairstyles.