Fragment 22 of the Berlin Wall is finally in PHL

A section of the Berlin Wall earmarked for the Philippines was officially inaugurated at the National Museum of the Filipino People on Wednesday, which was also German Unity Day and the 25th anniversary of German Unification.

Several sections of the Berlin Wall have been sent to different cities all over the world during state visits since the Wall came down in 1989.

The fragment sent to the Philippines, called “Mauerteil,” is the 22nd of the wall's 40 sections. It stands 3.65 meters tall and 1.2 meters wide, and weighs 2.8 tons.

 

National Museum displays the Fragment 22 of the Berlin Wall. A gift from the City of Berlin to the Filipino people, this fragment will be temporarily hosted at the Marble Hall of the National Museum of Anthropology while it is documented and conserved. Officially inaugurated yesterday during the German National Day and the 25th anniversary of German Unification, it was attended by German Parliamentary State Secretary Mrs. Brigitte Zypries and Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario,as well as officials from both countries.

A photo posted by National Museum PH (@natmuseumph) on

Oct 7, 2015 at 8:46pm PDT

In 2011, then-German President Christian Wulff said in a statement on the 25th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution that People Power was an inspiration to the peoples of East and West Germany at the time.

"Only a few months later, the Berlin Wall came down and we Germans were able to make our unified state a reality in peace and freedom," he said.

A section of the wall was designated for the Philippines as a gift from the City of Berlin, but the slab stayed unclaimed in Germany for more than 10 years. In a piece for Manila Bulletin last year, former Philippine Ambassador to Germany Jose Abeto Zaide said that during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's term, the Philippine Embassy in Germany held talks with the Berlin Protocol, resulting in then-Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit's agreeing to send a piece of the Wall to the country.

Zaide added that the task only needed Arroyo's availability to sign the Golden Book at the Berlin Rathaus (City Hall), a consent of the EDSA committee to receive the Berlin Wall, and a logistical support for shipment of the section to Manila.

The plan never pushed through because Arroyo's visit to Germany never materialized.

Last December, the deed of donation for the artifact was officially turned over to the Philippine Embassy by the Berlin Senate Chancellery.

In a note, 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.” — BM, GMA News