Where in the World is the Berlin Wall?

The memorial is made up of a hexagonal fountain with a red granite slab on one side, in which the silhouette of a dove has been cut out. The dove is a symbol of peace and flies through the Wall to freedom. At the same time, the water strengthens and completes the motif of freedom as it flows and makes its own way, unstoppable on its journey – this is the official interpretation given by town officials.

Model of the Wall memorial by Jens Galschiøt

© Jens Galschiøt

Two pieces of Wall, each approximately two metres tall, complete with protruding rusty steel cables, can be found in Danish architect Jens Galschiøt’s garden. The plan was originally to consolidate the pieces into a memorial, but this never actually happened. The internationally renowned sculptor was so awestruck by the images of the Fall of the Wall on 9 thNovember 1989 that he was keen to create a sculpture that commemorated these historical events. Berlin was the focal-point of the world and he considered it important to capture the euphoric mood in a memorial.

Galschiøt contacted both mayors of the divided city and requested they send him a few pieces of the Wall. The two mayors considered his request with open minds. However, the GDR government had decided in December that the remains of the former border should be sold at as high a price as possible, and Galschiøt was referred to the West Berlin company, “LeLé Berlin Wall Verkaufs- und Wirtschaftswerbung GmbH”, which had been commissioned to market it. The costforthe pieces he requested was between 40,000 and 90,000 Deutsche Mark – a price he could not afford. He contacted the two mayors again and finally reached an agreement to be given two pieces of the so-called “Hinterlandmauer”, free of charge.

The pieces of Wall were handed over in Berlin on 18 thJune 1990. Galschiøt used this opportunity to publicly present the plans for his memorial: on an area of 25 × 8 metres, people, with only half a body, move towards the Wall and only after passing through the Wall do they become full-bodied and disperse in all directions. He returned to his studio in Denmark to begin work on this symbolic idea.

By now, the initial euphoria evoked by the Fall of the Wall was ebbing away. It was proving increasingly difficult to find sponsors for his ambitious vision, and the plans had to be scaled down. But nobody wanted to erect even the smaller version in Berlin. Galschiøt then got in touch with Willy Brandt in October 1990, hoping to inject new life into the project. The former Mayor of Berlin supported the project, but was unable to provide materials or funding. In the meantime, the authorities of the reunited city were busy wiping the Wall from the face of the city landscape. By the end of 1990, the Wall had been dismantled. There were debates about what to do with the few remaining parts and where a memorial should be built.

Artist Jens Galschiøt with his pieces of Wall, Odense

© Jens Galschiøt

Galschiøt’s plans were met with less and less interest. The major corporations who had secured land on the former death strip at Potsdamer Platz, did not want to erect the memorial either. In 1992, in a final attempt to gain political support, the artist finally sent miniature models of his memorial plans to all parties of the Berlin state parliament. Only the Mauer Museum “Haus am Checkpoint Charlie” agreed to at least show the model in its exhibition. Two years later, when plans to erect his work at one of the last remaining watch towers at Schlesischer Busch on the border between Treptow and Kreuzberg also failed, Galschiøt eventually gave up his pursuit.

Alongside Wall segments, that are slowly being weathered in the open-air, a few sculptures remain in the artist’s nearby studio, waiting and hoping that the memorial may still actually be built.

The piece of the Wall in front of the Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom, Tallinn.

© Aimar Anderson / Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom

Next to the impressive glass and concrete facade of the Vabamu Occupation and Freedom Museum (Okupatsioonide Ja Vabaduse Muuseum) in Tallinn, which opened in 2003, the white-painted segment of the Berlin Wall looks very modest. It has been there since November 9, 2014, reminding visitors of the end of the division of Europe. The Vabamu Occupation and Freedom Museum focuses on the German and Soviet occupation of the northernmost Baltic state, which only regained its independence in 1991. The piece of the Wall donated by the Berlin Senate to the Republic of Estonia originates from the centre of Berlin: it once stood at the corner of Leipzigerstraße and Stresemannstraße on Potsdamer Platz. At the opening ceremony, the then Museum Director Kadri Viires and the German Ambassador Christian Matthias Schlaga said: “This piece of the Wall is a sign of friendship between Estonians and Germans and reminds us that this Wall did not fall, as often described, but was taken down by brave people all over Europe. It is also a warning signal that we will never forget that freedom and peace in Europe today cannot be taken for granted.” At the same time as the Wall piece, the exhibition “Dictatorship and Democracy in the Age of Extremes”, published by the Munich Institute of Contemporary History, Deutschlandradio Kultur and the Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Eastern Germany was opened in the Vabamu Museum of Occupation and Freedom, and was on display there until February 2015.

Wall segment in Kuopio

© Juha Lyytinen

Most of Kuopio’s inhabitants are probably not aware that an original piece of the Berlin Wall has been standing on the premises of a window and door factory in their town since 1990. Since they do not want visitors on the company premises, the exact location of the segment must also remain unmentioned here. But actually, it is not a secret that this testimony of the Cold War stands in the Eastern Finnish city.

In 2014, for example, the Finnish public broadcaster YLE reported on the piece of the Wall on the occasion of the 25 thanniversary of the Fall of the Wall. A technical manager of the company told in an interview at the time how the segment came to the north-eastern edge of Europe: the former CEO of the company was in Berlin as honorary consul in November 1989 when he was offered the Wall piece.

He gladly accepted the offer because, like many Finns, he was severely restricted in his political and economic freedom by historical experiences with the Soviet Union and its geographical proximity and influence. This changed fundamentally with the Fall of the Wall and the end of the Cold War.

According to the company manager, the unpainted piece of the Wall in Kuopio was not intended to become a memorial. Nevertheless, as he conveyed it in a 2014 television report, even after all these years it symbolizes the freedom achieved in 1989.