Berlin Wall Exhibit Serves as Cold War Reminder
Submitted on October 7, 1999 - 12:00am.
Bernard McGhee - Fall 1999
WASHINGTON _ The eight, graffiti-covered slabs of concrete look like they might have been pulled from a New York City subway.
But, for 28 years, they helped cast a grim shadow over the lives of East Berliners, divided the world into between democracy and communism, and brutally symbolized the Cold War. The eight fragments belonged to perhaps history's most infamous barricade: The Berlin Wall.
Today, the pieces of the wall are a permanent display at Freedom Park, a part of the Newseum in Arlington, Va. Behind the concrete slabs is a 30-foot high guard tower that once sat less than a mile from Checkpoint Charlie, the wall's most well-known crossing point. The display -- the largest section of the wall outside of Germany -- commemorates the 10-year anniversary of the wall's fall on Nov. 9, 1989.
But, for 28 years, they helped cast a grim shadow over the lives of East Berliners, divided the world into between democracy and communism, and brutally symbolized the Cold War. The eight fragments belonged to perhaps history's most infamous barricade: The Berlin Wall.
Today, the pieces of the wall are a permanent display at Freedom Park, a part of the Newseum in Arlington, Va. Behind the concrete slabs is a 30-foot high guard tower that once sat less than a mile from Checkpoint Charlie, the wall's most well-known crossing point. The display -- the largest section of the wall outside of Germany -- commemorates the 10-year anniversary of the wall's fall on Nov. 9, 1989.
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