>>>
your doctor about your risk.
>>>
20 years ago tonight, it was a cold and damp night in
berlin
, but nobody seemed to care because it was also the start of what became the biggest party in the
free world
, a
free world
that, by the way, had just grown a bit larger. i made it over there to see the
berlin wall
come down before our very eyes. i was reporting, as they say at that time, for another network, and we were all jealous of
tom brokaw
of "nbc nightly news" for getting there first and reporting the story back to the states first. tonight tom is back in
berlin
, the place where really the whole world changed, and it certainly is a different city these days. tom, good evening.
>>
good evening, brian. well, 20 years ago tonight, tens of thousands of
east germans
came through the
berlin wall
. one of them a
young woman
with her two sisters. she was a lab technician then, and now, 20 years later, her name is
angela merkel
and she came through another gate, the brandenburg game tonight, as the chancer of a
unified germany
. it was a night to savor for the chancellor and for the world. tonight's celebration was an entertainment and political extravaganza at the
brandenburg gate
. the sight of a much more spontaneous celebration 20 years ago, the night the wall fell. a sinister symbol of oppression, the wall has changed dramatically tonight.
chancellor merkel
led an all-star lineup of
cold war
veterans and their successors. gorbachev of russia,
lech walesa
of poland,
hillary clinton
from the u.s. among them. 20 years of so many changes, so many challenges. today
berlin
is a dazzling city on the east as well as
west side
of what was once the wall. now in
east berlin
you can buy everything from a ferrari to an armani suit. 20 years ago in this part of
berlin
, you had to stand in line to buy a loaf of bread. now you stand in line to get a starbucks cappuccino. but for many
germans
, this remains a country with a split personality. claudia wilhelm is a
berlin
teacher who says her students still think of themselves as
west germans
.
>>
they say, well, maybe i don't go to the east or it's in the east because i'm the west. i think it's the same way in the east, that they say, oh, i don't go over to the west because i don't want to. they are partial like that.
>>
reporter: in the east, this town was once a communist showplace. today it is just another german town struggling with a bad economy and failed hopes.
>>
translator: i'd never plead for a return to the old way, but the economy just couldn't keep up with the expectations we had after the fall of the war.
>>
reporter: it is the economy that is now the common enemy of all
germans
. unemployment is at 8%. it's twice as high in the east. that is a much higher priority for
germans
than helping the u.s. and afghanistan, where
german forces
are keeping a
low profile
. today secretary of state
hillary clinton
said the
germans
are doing as well as can be expected given their history.
>>
this has been a very difficult political decision for them, given their understandable allergy to being looked at though they were once again a
military power
. *
>>
reporter: tonight, however, belongs to a triumphant home, the fall of the wall, and with it the communist empire. artists created a chain of oversized dominos along the old route of the wall. tonight they were toppled. just as the
communist state
toppled two decades ago. after all of the trauma of the
20th century
, most of it self-inflicted, tonight's celebration could be the next major step for germany to renew itself as a whole country and as a leading member of the community of nations. brian?
>>
tom brokaw
in
berlin
, where it's just as
late at night
as it was 20 years ago. tom, thanks.
>>>
when we continue here tonight,
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