A 33-foot Jewish menorah lit up Berlin's 234-year-old Brandenburg Gate, which was once used as a symbol of Nazi power
A giant Jewish menorah was erected in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, last week.
The 234-year-old historic monument once stood in the backdrop of Germany's tumultuous history.
Commissioned in the late 1700s, Berlin's only surviving historical city gate was once seen as a symbol of Nazi power.
Hanukkah celebrations began in the city of Berlin as hundreds of people gathered at the historic Brandenburg Gate to witness the lighting of a giant 33-foot menorah. This is the largest of nearly 50 public menorahs placed throughout the city.
Source: Israel National News - Arutz Sheva
The Brandenburg Gate was commissioned by Prussian Emperor Frederick William II in the late 1700s and was Berlin's first Greek revival building. At 85-feet high and 215-feet long, it was built to symbolize peace and unity in Europe. Its original name translates to the "Peace Gate."
Source: Google Arts & Culture
The monument stood at the center of a number of historical events postmarked throughout Germany's history, including the occupation of French forces under military leader and Emperor Napoleon in the early 19th century.
Source: Office of the Historian
The gate quickly became a symbol of national pride, represented by the Quadriga statue, featuring a two-wheeled chariot pulled by four horses to signify peace entering the city.
Source: History.com
But Nazi leader Adolf Hitler took that sense of nationalism to an extreme in the 1900s, turning the gate into a symbol of Nazi power during the Holocaust.
Source: History Channel
Given the politicized role the monument played for the Nazi party and Hitler's fascist government during WWII, the Brandenburg Gate was bombed toward the end of the war as the British occupied Berlin.
But the second World War wasn't the last historic moment to transpire before the monument. Standing just steps away from the Berlin Wall that separated communist East Germany (East Berlin) and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Berlin) from 1961 to 1989, the Brandenburg Gate also lay witness to the infamous fall of the wall.
Today, the gate has become an important cultural and national site where people have protested climate change, shown solidarity with protesters in Iran, and stood against antisemitism.
Source: The Times of Israel, The Berlin Spectator, Green Peace
More than two centuries after it was first commissioned, the Brandenburg Gate is now the site where Hanukkah can be observed on a grand scale, symbolizing hope and light in a place that once harbored fear.
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