Donated portion of Berlin Wall makes its way to Manila in 2015

Berlin Wall segment in Los Angeles at 5900 Wilshire Boulevard (Screenshot from Wikipedia footage by Fuzheado)

MANILA — Twenty five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a section of the famed symbol of a divided Europe, will be making its way to Manila in 2015, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday.

A deed of donation executed by the Berlin city government that presented a section of the Berlin Wall to the citizens of Manila was officially turned over to Philippine Embassy Chargé d’affaires Mardomel Melicor by Margit Gehrcken of the Berlin Senate Chancellery.

Manila will receive the section, called “Mauerteil” – the 22nd in a series of 40 sections that were formerly located at Potsdamer Platz – now a prime bustling commercial and entertainment district in Berlin.

“The piece of the Berlin Wall is expected to make its way to the Philippines in early 2015,” the DFA said in a statement.

The slab stands 3.65 meters tall and 1.2 meters wide.

The Berlin Senate said the section of the Wall is part of its initiative to remember the importance of its fall.

Berlin Wall is a barrier that separated the communist-ruled German Democratic Republic of East Germany and West Germany for nearly three decades, starting in 1961. Its fall in Nov. 9, 1989 marked the end of communist rule in Eastern Europe and ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Berlin Senate said “it was happy that part of the Berlin Wall would stand in Manila as a monument to remember that it was possible to successfully overcome and reunify divisions in Berlin and Europe.

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