Potsdamer Platz (Potsdam Square) is an important public square and traffic intersection in the centre of Berlin, Germany. It lies about one kilometre south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag (German Parliament Building), and close to the southeast corner of the Tiergarten park. It is named after the city of Potsdam, some 25 km to the south west, and marks the point where the old road from Potsdam passed through the city wall of Berlin at the Potsdam Gate. The square was totally laid waste during World War II and then left desolate during the Cold War era when the Berlin Wall bisected its former location. Since the fall of the Wall it has risen again as a glittering new heart for the city and the most visible symbol of the new Berlin.

With the construction of the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961, along the intracity frontier, Potsdamer Platz now found itself physically divided in two. What had once been a busy intersection had become totally desolate. With the clearance of almost all remaining bomb-damaged buildings on both sides (on the eastern side, this was done chiefly to give border guards a clear view of would-be escapees and an uninterrupted line of fire), almost nothing was left in an area of dozens of hectares.

Only two buildings in the immediate vicinity of Potsdamer Platz did still stand - one complete, the other in a half-ruined fragmented form: the Weinhaus Huth and the former Hotel Esplanade. Apart from these, no other buildings remained. The area would remain like this for the next 28 years. Below ground, the U-Bahn section through Potsdamer Platz had closed entirely; although the S-Bahn line itself remained open. Consequently Potsdamer Platz S-Bahn station became the most infamous of several ghost stations, sealed off from the outside world, patrolled by armed guards and which trains ran straight through without stopping.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 ex-Pink Floyd member Roger Waters staged a gigantic charity concert of his former band's rock extravaganza The Wall on 21 July 1990, to commemorate the end of the division between East and West Germany. The concert took place at Potsdamer Platz - specifically an area of the former "No Man's Land".  
During the preparations for this concert sections of the main Führerbunker were found, partially destroyed or filled in. Another bunker complex was found further north, plus other cavities beneath land bordering the east side of Ebertstraße, although these turned out to be underground garages belonging to a former SS accommodation block.

After 1990, the square became the focus of attention again, as a large (some 60 hectares), attractive location which had suddenly become available in the centre of a major European capital city. It was widely seen as one of the hottest, most exciting building sites in Europe, and the subject of much debate amongst architects and planners. If Berlin needed to re-establish itself on the world stage, then Potsdamer Platz was one of the key areas where the city had an opportunity to express itself. Due to its location straddling the erstwhile border between east and west, it was widely perceived as a "linking element," reconnecting the two halves of the city and helping to heal the historical wounds from the division.