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Angela Merkel and Jens Stoltenberg handing over the Wall pieces in front of NATO headquarters in Brussels on 25 May 2017.

© Kay Nietfeld / dpa / Picture Alliance

On May 25^th, 2017, the meeting of NATO heads of state and government took place for the first time at the new headquarters of the Atlantic Alliance on Boulevard Leopold III in Brussels. To mark the occasion, two monuments were inaugurated prior to the actual meeting and are located in front of the main visitors’ entrance. One is a memorial to the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11^th, 2001, as a result of which the alliance’s case was declared for the first time under Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, and the other is two segments of the Berlin Wall. The two sections of the Wall were donated to NATO by the Federal Republic of Germany. At the inauguration ceremony, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, U.S. President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave speeches. The two original segments of the Berlin Wall of the type “Grenzmauer 75”, also known as retaining Wall element UL 12.41, were transported from Berlin to Brussels by the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) and erected here. They were selected by the German Foreign Office, which was advised by the Berlin Wall Foundation. At the request of the Foreign Ministry, the segments were to be both authentic in terms of their structural condition and representative of the events of 1989/1990. The two segments once had different functions. The segment on the right, which today stands closer to the path and has a graffito of red hands on it, was part of the outer border Wall and marked the direct border with West Berlin. The painting was probably applied before the fall of the Wall and later partially chipped off by “Mauerspechten” (Wall-Woodpeckers). The exact former location of this segment is unknown. The other Wall segment was part of the inner border Wall on the east side and was located in the area between the Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Platz.

Part of a stylized eye and longer inscription can still be seen on this segment, which stretched over several segments of the Wall: “Gorbi sees everything”. Since this painting was on the former east side of the Wall segment, it must date from after 1990. The original over-climbing protection has not been preserved. The two segments of the Wall have been provided with a plaque whose text in the official working languages of NATO, English and French, reads as follows:

The Berlin Wall, a symbol of repression and fear, split the German capital from 1961. The NATO Allies opposed it with their enduring commitment to freedom, democracy and human rights – values which unite us to this day. Peaceful protest in Central and Eastern Europe brought the Wall down on 9 November 1989, paving the way for German reunification and an end to the division of Europe.

Le Mur de Berlin a coupé en deux la capitale de l’Allemagne dès 1961. À ce symbole d’oppression et de peur, les pays de l’OTAN ont opposé leur engagement pour la liberté, la démocratie et les droits de l’homme – des valeurs qui nous unissent jusqu’à ce jour. Les manifestations pacifiques en Europe centrale et orientale ont entraîné la chute du Mur, le 9 novembre 1989, annonçant la réunification de l’Allemagne et la fin d’une Europe divisée.