Berlin Wall — Attraction in New York

You stroll down to Battery Park City, the Hudson at your back, and there it is, a twelve foot chunk of the Berlin Wall standing in Kowsky Plaza like a scar turned statue. This ripped off fragment once loomed over East Berlin, between Potsdamer Platz and Leipziger Platz, a grim barricade to keep people penned in. Now it is a 2.75 ton slab of defiance turned public art, quietly coughing out freedom lessons while bankers eat their lunches nearby.

This is not a tourist trap with a selfie stick line. It is just a slab of cold war history, painted by Thierry Noir, one of the first to slap color onto oppression, and installed in 2004 as a gift from the German Consulate, marking the fifteenth anniversary of the Wall coming down. You can touch the steel reinforced concrete that once told people to stay in line. It is humbling, absurd, and gorgeous. You stroll down to Battery Park City, the Hudson at your back, and there it is, a twelve foot chunk of the Berlin Wall standing in Kowsky Plaza like a scar turned statue. This ripped off fragment once loomed over East Berlin, between Potsdamer Platz and Leipziger Platz, a grim barricade to keep people penned in. Now it is a 2.75 ton slab of defiance turned public art, quietly coughing out freedom lessons while bankers eat their lunches nearby.

This is not a tourist trap with a selfie stick line. It is just a slab of cold war history, painted by Thierry Noir, one of the first to slap color onto oppression, and installed in 2004 as a gift from the German Consulate, marking the fifteenth anniversary of the Wall coming down. You can touch the steel reinforced concrete that once told people to stay in line. It is humbling, absurd, and gorgeous.

You leave wondering how something that once tore a city in half can now sit in the sun while kids play tag around it. The concrete is still ugly and the story still hurts, but here it stands, a souvenir of when the world was split in two and the line between life and death was...

Nestled within a small garden near the World Trade Centre site it is quite hard to find even with Maps pointing the way. It is an interesting relic of the times when western and eastern Germany were separated. It is completely out of context in New York and it is like they have no idea what to do with it apart from put it on display. There is no interpretation or signage. You only know what it is because Maps says it is and you can find mention...

I served in Berlin from 1990 to 1994 and had much higher expectation for this tribute. A single slab of wall and it's missing the smoothed rounded crown at the top of the wall. I believe this section was called "Chickenlips." Could have been better. At least 3 sections with all components to the wall. If you are going to do it, do it right!! For anyone who may visit Berlin, do not miss the 1.2km stretch of Berlin Wall at the East...