Section of the Berlin Wall, painted on both sides. 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 fall of the wall. The other side of the wall, facing First Avenue, is a graffiti work made by the artist Kani Alavi, who has painted other sections along the wall - known as the East Side Gallery. The artist was one of the leaders of the initiative to retain the remnant section of the wall as an open-air gallery.
The Berlin Wall divided Germany for 28 years during the Cold War. It was 155 km (96 miles) long. The construction of the Berlin Wall began in the heat of the Cold War on 13 August 1961, built because the East German Communist leadership wanted to prevent a mass exodus to the Federal Republic of Germany. Over two hundred people died trying to cross the Berlin Wall, which was only officially penetrable with documentation at certain spots, like the infamous Checkpoint Charlie. Thousands more attempted to cross and were imprisoned with long sentences. It fell on 9 November 1989 in a peaceful revolution marking the end of the Cold War.
This three-slab section was gifted from Germany in 2002, presented by the President of the German Bundestag, Wolfgang Thierse to then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. At the ceremony, Mister 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.” It is located in the North Lawn Garden and stands like it stood in Germany: East towards East and West towards West.
Kani Alavi is a German Iranian artist born in 1955 in Lahijan, Iran. He moved to Berlin in 1980 where he studied Fine Arts.