BERLIN -- Barbed wire and concrete once obscured the Brandenburg Gate, a stark symbol of a world divided when it stood abandoned behind the Berlin Wall.

Now, it's hidden by scaffolding and a stage where thousands of Berliners and out-of-towners will watch the World Cup soccer tournament on huge TV screens.

The world's biggest sporting event -- certainly the largest Germany has hosted since the end of the Cold War -- starts Friday, giving Deutschland a chance to celebrate its present and future without being totally overshadowed by its past.

"I think it's very important that people from other countries see Berlin and Germany is a new country, a new town," said Frank Poppe, who was born here. "We're able to come together, East and West, in freedom.

"I hope people learn to see it is possible to clear problems without aggressive force."

Yet for all the strides, eerie remnants remain.

The World Cup final will be played July 9 at Olympic Stadium, the recently renovated arena built by Adolf Hitler expressly for the 1936 Games and the site of the track where American Jesse Owens won four golds.

"We're a modern country, very open-minded," said Detlef Forbrich, a Berliner now living in Bremen. "Not the stereotype that everybody thinks in the world."

For more than 50 years, Berlin and Germany were the flashpoints for evil and conflict: Hitler and the rise of fascism. World War II and the Holocaust. The Cold War and the struggle between communism and democracy.

The wall that separated East and West Berlin and thousands of friends and families fell in 1989. When the country reunited a year later, Germany got a brand-new start that is evident throughout the city in modern buildings, attractive plazas and refurbished neighborhoods. Berlin is one of the hottest destinations in Europe now, known as much for its vibrant cultural and music scene, museums and hip boutiques as its history.

Still, the pull of the past is strong.

The Brandenburg Gate, for example, has been the hub of Berlin since it was built in the late 1700s, a memorial to peace, impressive as it is immense. Once trapped in no man's land behind the wall, it attracts huge crowds of tourists to its vibrant square, lined by businesses, embassies and hotels. A bustling Starbucks stands on a corner where soldiers used to congregate.

"It's important for people to see this Berlin with all the sites," said Friederike Boerner, an out-of-towner who came to Berlin with her brother and a friend for a cultural festival.

Then there's the Reichstag, the parliamentary building where Soviet soldiers sealed the Nazis' defeat in 1945 with the ultimate humiliation: flying the hammer and sickle from the rooftop.

And then there are the cobblestones that meander through the city and the simple copper plates that say, Berliner Mauer 1961-1989. Translation: Berlin Wall.

Two rows of cobblestone mark where the wall stood less than 20 years ago. Back then, crossing it was impossible and anyone attempting to do so was met with a lowered gun and a barked warning.

Or a bullet.

About 1,000 people were killed trying to escape East Germany between 1961 and 1989. In a park across the street from the Reichstag, there's a makeshift memorial to 13 victims featuring 4-foot tall white crosses with the names and birthdates of the people killed, and a short explanation of how they died.

Chris Gueffroy was 20 when he was shot and killed in February 1989 trying to escape from East Berlin. Marienetta Jirkowski was shot in November 1980. Another man drowned trying to swim to freedom. Candles and flowers hang along the fence, and visitors speak in hushed tones as they move from cross to cross.

But a few yards away, in the strange dichotomy that plays out across the city, two young boys are preoccupied with a soccer ball, trying to see who can bounce one on his knee the longest.

Few intact sections of the wall still exist. There are three on Bernauer Strasse, a street in the northeast part of the city that was split in the middle, one side in the East and the other in the West. Each is about 100 yards long, a 12-foot tall sheet of heavy gray concrete topped by a half-circle of more concrete.

The largest section of the wall in the city is the East Side Gallery, a mile-long stretch in the former communist section that's become an outdoor artists' colony.

Graffiti was commonplace on the western side of the wall. When it began falling in 1989, though, artists covered every inch of this section of East Berlin with murals. Some provided commentary on the events of the day, including one that says, "The World's Too Small for Walls."

Potsdamer Platz was deserted during the Cold War, destroyed by bombs in World War II and the creation of the wall. These days, though, it's as hopping as Trafalgar Square. It was the largest construction site in Europe in the early 1990s, and big, shiny buildings are now home to Sony, DaimlerChrysler and an IMAX theater.

Checkpoint Charlie, the border crossing into East Berlin that was manned by American soldiers, provides perhaps the surest evidence that capitalism has triumphed over communism.

Visitors can have their pictures taken with U.S. "soldiers" at the replica of the original guardhouse, and a man dressed as a Soviet soldier hawks passport stamps.

Nearby is the "Snackpoint Charlie" cafe. Sidewalks are filled with souvenir kiosks selling Cold War memorabilia, including T-shirts and coffee mugs.

High above the street hangs a billboard-sized photo, a dour-looking communist soldier on one side, a fresh-faced American on the other.

Past and present, forever connected.