Berlin , Germany ( CNN ) -- Thousands of people joined world leaders in the German capital Monday to remember the night 20 years ago when a euphoric wave of people power swept away the Berlin Wall and consigned the Cold War to history . In scenes calmly mirroring the events of November 9 , 1989 , crowds thronged through the center of the once-divided city , joining German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a symbolic re-enactment of the first crossing of the breached Wall . `` It was worth fighting for , '' Merkel said , after crossing the Bösebrücker bridge on Bornholmer Strasse , the checkpoint where people first poured across the frontier . Merkel , the first former East German to lead the reunified country , was accompanied by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Polish ex-president Lech Walesa as she kicked off events to celebrate the demise of the iconic structure and remember the darker sides of the communist regimes behind it . `` It is not only a day of celebration for Germans . It is a day of celebration for the whole of Europe , '' Merkel said . Merkel was joined by Britain 's Gordon Brown , France 's Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in a series of events , including solemn tributes and boisterous music concerts . At the climax , a line of 1,000 giant dominoes was knocked over along a 2-kilometer strip where the Wall once stood -- representing the domino effect the structure 's collapse had in ending communism across Eastern Europe . Memorials were to be held for the 136 lives lost of those who tried to eascape through the barrier that cut Berlin in two -- many in the so-called `` death strip '' at the heart of the Wall 's fortifications . Read more in our Autumn of Change special report . Thousands of people gathered at the Brandenburg Gate , the symbol of reunified Germany which once stood at the center of the no man 's land between East and West Berlin . Rock acts including Bon Jovi joined the festivities , echoing the popular music of the late 80s which soundtracked the cold night when rigid communist control gave way to an exhilarating tide of people clamoring for freedom . Testament to the powerful legacy of the Wall 's collapse have been the vivid memories recounted by many of the dramatic and emotional events before and after the fall . `` It was a circus-like atmosphere , people were enthused and exuberant and thrilled to see the Wall coming down , '' said David Paul Noel of Maryland , who was working for the U.S. State Department in Germany at the time . Former CNN correspondent Richard Blystone , who watched the Wall collapse was struck by the difference in appearance of each side of the Wall . `` On the west side , there was all this graffiti and dirty words , and names of rock groups and 'down with that ' -- all the chaos of a pluralistic society , '' he said . `` On the eastern side , it was clean and white , just so sterile . '' Though dominated by nostalgia , Monday was also an opportunity to assess progress in a reunified Germany and democratized Eastern Europe , with many airing concerns that the world still has lessons to learn from the events of 1989 . With many in Germany feeling the economic , social and psychological divisions once demarcated by the Wall , Merkel said Monday that the country had yet to fulfil promises made when East and West reunited in 1990 . `` Germany unity is not yet complete , '' Merkel told public broadcaster ARD earlier . At an event in Berlin on Sunday , U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for renewed global action to liberate those still living under repressive regimes . `` Our history did not end the night the Wall came down , '' Clinton said . `` It began anew . And this matters not only to tens of millions of Europeans , and to the United States , but to people everywhere . '' She added : `` To expand freedom to more people , we can not accept that freedom does not belong to all people . We can not allow oppression , defined and justified by religion or tribe to replace that of ideology . `` We have a responsibility to address conditions everywhere that undermine the potential of boys and girls and men and women that sap human dignity and threaten global progress . '' CNN 's Barry Neild contributed to this story .
Angela Merkel held ceremonies to mark 20 years since collapse of Berlin Wall . Thousands of people converged on symbolic Brandenburg Gate in center of Berlin . She says Germany still has far to go in its unification process .