Editing Brandenburg Gate (section)

===Cold War===
After Germany's surrender at the end of the war, the Brandenburg Gate was located in the [[Soviet occupation zone]], directly next to the border to the zone occupied by the British, which later became the border between [[East Berlin|East]] and [[West Berlin]]. In connection with the [[East German uprising of 1953]], three men took down the red flag on the roof of the Brandenburg Gate and, shortly after noon on 17 June 1953, hoisted the joint black-red-gold flag of East Germany and West Germany. One of the three men, Wolfgang Panzer, probably paid for this action with his life and was never seen again.<ref name="Knopp:Aufstand">{{Cite book |author=[[Guido Knopp]] |title=Der Aufstand – 17. Juni 1953 |publisher=Hoffman und Campe |location=Hamburg |year=2003 |isbn=3-455-09389-2}}</ref>

On 21 September 1956, the East Berlin magistrates decided to restore the only surviving but damaged former city gate. Despite heated arguments and mutual accusations, both parts of Berlin worked together on the restoration. The holes were patched, but were visible for many years. The quadriga was completely recreated based on a plaster cast from 1942; the reconstruction was carried out by the sculptor Otto Schnitzer and the traditional foundry Hermann Noack in [[Friedenau]]. The restoration was completed on 14 December 1957. The Iron Cross standard above the quadriga was replaced by a wreath, as originally intended, but the Iron Cross returned after [[German Reunification]], and remains in place in 2025.

Vehicles and pedestrians could travel freely through the gate until the day after construction began on the [[Berlin Wall]] on [[Barbed Wire Sunday]], 13 August 1961. West Berliners gathered on the western side of the gate to demonstrate against the Berlin Wall, among them West Berlin's mayor, [[Willy Brandt]], who had returned from a federal election campaign tour in West Germany earlier the same day. The wall passed directly by the western side of the gate, closing it throughout the Berlin Wall period, which ended on 22 December 1989.<ref>[https://www.orte-der-einheit.de/en/brandenburg-gate ''Brandenburg Gate: Symbol of Division, Unity, Freedom''.] In: [https://www.orte-der-einheit.de/en/ Sites of Unity] ([[Haus der Geschichte]]), 2022.</ref>

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File: Bundesarchiv Bild B 145 Bild-P061246.jpg|Aerial view of the [[Berlin Wall]] near the gate, Summer/Autumn 1961
File:Brandenburg Gate - Flickr - The Central Intelligence Agency (1).jpg|[[East Germany|East German]] troops line up along the border, August 1961
File:People observing the Brandenburg Gate from the East Berlin side, 1984.jpg|In 1984, [[East Berlin]]ers and others were kept away from the gate, which they could view only from this distance.
</gallery>