Nude bathing on public beaches and Alpine hiking in the buff may rate as everyday Teutonic pastimes, but the outraged burghers of eastern Germany's highest ski resort draw the line at the nation's latest winter sport: topless tobogganing.

Tomorrow Michael Ballack will be back doing what he knows best. There in the heart of Chelsea's midfield at the Emirates will be the imposing figure of Germany's captain, bringing his they-shall-not-pass presence to a side not lacking in strong characters. It is where Ballack wants to be, and right now it is where he has never been more grateful to be.

The Stasi man, the spin doctor, the dissident and teenager tell of the day when the Wall came down

Margot Honecker, a Communist-era minister now living in exile in Chile, left a cruel legacy of separated families

The fall of the Berlin Wall, on November 9, 1989, was one of history’s truly epochal moments. During what became a revolutionary wave sweeping across the former Eastern Bloc countries, the announcement by the then-East German Government that its citizens could visit West Germany set in train a series of events that led, ultimately, to the demise of the Soviet Union itself.

Some small-print disclaimers first, relating to product description. The Children Who Fought Hitler, to start with, a title that conjures up images of human waves of boy-soldiers, running through the rubble-filled streets of Berlin to see who can get to the bunker first and take out Adolf with a Sten gun.

1989: Europe's Revolution: On the 20th anniversary of Berlin's reunification, Tony Paterson remembers the place where the city's dividing lines began to dissolve

We know what happened in the years following the momentous events of 9 November 1989: the birth of a new Europe. But that week, fear mingled with hope – and The Independent's correspondents and photographers were there to capture the moment. In a special report, we present the first draft of history

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany's landscape has changed dramatically. Foreign correspondent Rupert Cornwell returns to his old stamping ground

Two decades after the fall of Communism, and 19 years after reunification, Victor Sebestyen reports on one of Europe's biggest economic triumphs

The Berlin Wall

Reunification has led to fewer jobs and fewer people in the east, and some are nostalgic for a more certain past

Communist who got to the top just as the Party was over

Apart from civil resistance, one crucial factor was the huge role of Gorbachev