Germany’s infamous symbol of division, the Berlin Wall, separated West Berlin — an enclave of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) — from East Berlin in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) for 28 years. Construction began in 1961 under GDR communist leaders after about 3 million people had fled to the West, escaping economic hardship, limited freedoms and state surveillance. To stop further defections, the East German regime erected a complex system of barriers, obstacles and guard towers along a border roughly 155 kilometers long. Although intended to be impenetrable, around 5,000 East Germans managed to cross it over the years.
The wall severed nearly all traffic routes and communications between East and West Berlin; a few crossing points, such as Checkpoint Charlie, were exceptions. The GDR’s harsh border policy was deadly: between 1961 and 1989 at least 140 people were killed at the wall, including escapees, border guards and uninvolved passersby.
When communist rule in Eastern Europe collapsed, the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, and German reunification followed about a year later. Only some segments of the wall remain in Berlin today. The longest standing stretch is the East Side Gallery, a painted concrete memorial 1.3 kilometers long; another preserved area is at the Berlin Wall Memorial.
After the wall came down, Berliners hurried to dismantle the structure, but governments, institutions and private actors worldwide wanted pieces as souvenirs or memorials. The United States was particularly active in acquiring segments. The Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Eastern Germany estimates the US has more pieces of the wall than Berlin itself. Wall fragments are displayed everywhere from the United Nations headquarters in New York to the CIA headquarters in Langley, and, famously, even in odd places like a Las Vegas restroom.
Pieces of the wall are scattered across the globe — from New Zealand to Iceland and from Indonesia to Chile. The German foundation has identified 57 countries (besides Germany) that host at least one segment. Acquisition stories vary: some segments were bought by private individuals or companies, others were gifts from the German government or the Berlin Senate. Each site interprets the fragments differently and attaches its own meaning.
In some countries the segments serve as explicit calls for unification or as reminders of democratic struggles. In South Korea, where national division resonates with German history, Berlin Wall sections appear in six locations, including Dorasan, the northernmost point of the South Korean rail network near the North Korean border. In 2015, German President Joachim Gauck joined South Korean officials to inaugurate the “Unification Platform” at Dorasan Station, revealing a wall segment with a plaque urging the creation of a reunited Korea and quoting Gauck: “To find and create a life of freedom together.”
In former Eastern Bloc countries the fragments often symbolize the hard-won arrival of democracy. Sofia, Bulgaria, requested a piece from the Berlin Senate in 2006; it now stands beside a memorial to victims of communism with bilingual plaques explaining that the wall divided Europe and the world from August 13, 1961 until November 9, 1989, and that the segment is a gift from Berlin to the citizens of Sofia as proof of reunified Europe and Bulgarian freedom. The Sofia piece is plain and grey, reflecting the wall’s original appearance, while many other segments worldwide are painted or covered in graffiti, often featuring themes of peace and friendship.
Some of the painted segments owe their look to early street artists such as Thierry Noir, a French artist who worked on the West Berlin side before the wall fell and later painted sections that were sold or gifted. Notable private displays include a wall piece painted by Noir that stands in Heidi Klum’s California yard, a gift from her husband who was born in East Germany.
The handling and sale of wall remnants was controversial. The transitional GDR government tasked a state enterprise with selling the remains, and that company worked with a West Berlin agency that painted segments to increase their market appeal and price. Critics protested that the same regime responsible for the deaths at the wall was profiting from its remains, even if some proceeds were meant to support non-profit causes. Private companies also profited. In Trondheim, Norway, artist Lars O. Ramberg created a sculpture titled “Kapitalistischer Realismus” (Capitalist Realism) that places the word “SALE” on a wall segment, critiquing the commercialization of the relics and acknowledging his own participation by acquiring segments for the artwork.
Demand for wall pieces has declined in the past decade. “World history has gone on, and global politics are different,” says Anna Kaminsky, director of the Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Eastern Germany. The symbolic impact of the wall has faded over decades and it is increasingly losing its status as an iconic symbol. Some see a positive side to that: regardless of how colorful or widely displayed, the wall remains fundamentally a symbol of dictatorship.
This article was originally written in German.
