The broken part of the Berlin Wall, which symbolized the "Iron Curtain" that separated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War era, will be delivered to the US State Department for installation at the U.S. Diplomacy Center Thursday, on the 54th anniversary of the closure of the border from East to West Berlin on August 13, 1961.
This unique segment of the Wall is personally signed by several world leaders and statesmen who played key roles in the historic German unification that helped melt the ice of polarization. They include former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, former Polish President and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, current German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker.
US Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy will be joined by German Charge d'Affaires Philipp Ackermann and Atlantic Council Executive Vice President Paige Ennis in overseeing the installation.
The United States gets the monumental piece with the support of the Atlantic Council and through an agreement with the German company, Verbundnetz Gas Aktiengesellschaft.
The US State Department describes the wall: "A permanent reminder of our shared history and the indispensable role of our transatlantic bond for the future."
The Berlin Wall was a barrier that divided the German city of Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the East German Government, the wall completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany. It served to prevent the massive emigration and defection from East Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc to West Germany and Western Europe during the post-World War II period.
In 1989, a series of radical political changes occurred in the Eastern Bloc, and after several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced that all its citizens could visit West Germany. The East and West German governments jointly demolished the wall in the early 1990s. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification.
The United States Diplomacy Center (USDC) is a state-of-the-art museum and education center at the Department of State, dedicated to showcasing the history, practices, and challenges of U.S. diplomacy.
The museum, which is currently under construction, is located at the entrance of the historic Harry S Truman Building in Washington, D.C.
The Center will invite visitors to explore the impact of diplomacy through interactive exhibits, compelling artifacts, hands-on education programs, diplomatic simulations, and the expertise of foreign affairs specialists.
The collections at the U.S. Diplomacy Center range from the 18th century to the present.
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