4. There’s a Section of the Berlin Wall in the United Nations

Berlin Wall at UN

New York City is home to five sections of the Berlin Wall, the 12-foot high concrete barrier that stood between East and West Germany for 28 years. A Berlin Wall piece, which used be at Potsdamer Platz, stands in the United Nations Sculpture Garden, which contains gifts from many member countries of the UN. This three-slab section was gifted from Germany in 2002, presented by then-President of the German Bundestag, Wolfgang Thierse to then-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. At the ceremony, Annan said, “The Berlin Wall was an offence to the human spirit. It not only marked the division of Germany and Europe, but also expressed, in a uniquely horrible way, the propensity of human beings to erect walls and borders, and then glare across them, hearts filled with hate, minds full of fear and distrust, all the while numb to the notion that there might be a better way.”

The Berlin Wall section is painted on both sides with the slab standing as it would have in Berlin, with the east side facing east and the west side facing west. The side facing the East River is entitled “Trophy of Civil Rights” and depicts two people reaching over the top of the wall to embrace each other. It is believed that this painting was made between 1989 and 1990, following the reunification. The other side of the wall, facing 1st Avenue, is a graffiti work made German artist Kani Alavi, who has painted other sections along the wall’s East Side Gallery. He is one of the leaders of the initiative to retain the remnant section of the wall in Berlin as an open-air gallery.