Berlin Wall fragment, Berlin, Germany, 1961

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Object Details

Description: The opening of the Berlin Wall by the East German government on November 9, 1989, signaled the collapse of Communism and led to the reunification of East and West Germany. Their separation through the center of Berlin dated to the Allied partition of the country into occupied zones after the Second World War. When the end came, portions of the wall were cut into memorial-size chunks of concrete. An apparently limitless supply of smaller bits became available to a global audience who had witnessed the wall’s destruction on television. A vendor in a Berlin flea market sold this fragment to a visiting Canadian student, who in turn sold it on an Internet auction site.; Purchase, 2011

Physical Description: red (overall color); yellow (overall color); pink (overall color); black (overall color); grey (overall color); concrete (overall material)
Measurements: overall: 3 3/4 in x 4 in x 1 in; 9.525 cm x 10.16 cm x 2.54 cm

See more items in: Political and Military History: Political History, General History Collection; Government, Politics, and Reform; Souvenir Nation

National Museum of American History

GUID (Link to Original Record): http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ad-2f56-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa