LEIPZIG, GERMANY - OCTOBER 09: (From L to R) Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, German President Joachim Gauck and former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker attend commemorations marking the 25th anniversary of the mass protests in Leipzig that preceded the fall of the communist government of East Germany on October 9, 2014 in Leipzig, Germany. On October 9, 1989, following weeks of protests that had resulted in beatings and arrests by police, 70,000 protesters demanding greater freedom marched unopposed through the city in a historic event that signaled the beginning of the end of the communist government's authority. Only a month later the infamous Berlin Wall fell, breaking the near isolation of East Germans under communist dictatorship. Revolutions continued to sweep across Eastern Europe and within months all of the communist governments collapsed. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
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