Want to own a piece of the Berlin Wall?
The momento of the wall has been gathering dust in a cupboard for over 30 years
Northmead couple Peter and Lucy Knottenbelt are putting their faith in one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure to garner some interest around a very interesting bit of history that they tried to sell at the City Times car boot sale at the Bunny Park on Saturday (November 28).
In an ice-cream tub and carefully preserved in cotton wool, they showed me broken bits of the Berlin Wall!
Peter said Lucy and himself were in Germany in September 1990 when the Berlin Wall was being broken down.
“We were in Germany for two weeks. I was on a work conference and it was Lucy’s first time out of the country. We managed to gather these mementos,” Peter said.
When asked why he wanted to sell this extraordinary treasure, he said, “It has just been sitting in a cupboard for over 30 years and all the grandchildren who we could have passed it onto have left the country, so we decided to get sell it.”
When suggested they allow the City Times to feature an article, Peter agreed.
On Monday morning Peter confirmed they did not sell the Berlin Wall pieces at the car boot sale and will now eagerly wait to see whose interest will be piqued by these genuine historic remnants.
“I suppose it is something really special which we should not just get rid of willy-nilly. It will be interesting to see who else thinks this is a valuable keepsake,” he said.
Anyone interested in Peter’s remnants of the Berlin Wall can email Lana O’Neill at lanan@caxton.co.za
About the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the death strip) that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other defences.
The Eastern Bloc portrayed the wall as protecting its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the will of the people from building a socialist state in East Germany.
The East German government announced on November 9, 1989, that all East Berlin citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin.
Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, euphoric people and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the wall.
The Brandenburg Gate, a few meters from the Berlin Wall, was opened on December 22, 1989.
The demolition of the Berlin Wall officially began on June 13, 1990 and was completed in November 1991.
The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which formally took place on October 3, 1990.
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