Editing Brandenburg Gate (section)

===Nazi Germany and World War II===
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-P054320, Berlin, Brandenburger Tor und Pariser Platz.jpg|thumb|View from [[Pariser Platz]] in June 1945, after the fall of Berlin]]
[[File:SFP 186 - Brandenburger Tor.ogv|thumb|In 1945, damaged state just after the end of [[World War II]]]]
[[File:Водружение Красного знамени на квадриге Бранденбургских ворот после взятия Берлина советскими войсками.jpg|thumb|Soviet troops raising the Red Banner on the quadriga after the fall of Berlin]]
When the [[Nazis]] ascended to power, they used the gate as a party symbol. As part of Berlin's transformation into the so-called "world capital Germania", the gate was located on the east–west axis. A seven-kilometer-long section between the Brandenburg Gate and Adolf-Hitler-Platz (today [[Theodor-Heuss-Platz]]) was extended and put into operation in 1939. During the further expansion of the east–west axis, which never materialised, one of the plans was to move the side porticos away from the Brandenburg Gate. Traffic would then have been routed not only through, but also around the gate.<ref>''Umgestaltung des Brandenburger Tores''. In: ''Verkehrstechnik'', 20th year, issue 10 (20 May 1939), p. 255.</ref>

The gate survived [[World War II]] and was one of the damaged structures still standing in the Pariser Platz ruins in 1945 (another being the Academy of Fine Arts). The gate was badly damaged with holes in the columns from bullets and nearby explosions. One horse's head from the original quadriga survived, and is today kept in the collection of the [[Märkisches Museum]]. Efforts to disguise the government district of Berlin and confuse Allied bombers had included the construction of a replica Brandenburg Gate located away from the city centre.<ref name="Overy 2013">{{cite book |last1=Overy |first1=Richard |title=The Bombing War, Europe 1939–45 |date=2013 |publisher=Penguin Books Ltd. |location=London |isbn=978-0-141-92782-4 |edition=Kindle, 2014}}</ref>{{rp|452}}