Der Eintrag
Zwei Segmente im Garten des Ökumenischen Rates der Kirchen, beschafft von einer Organisation, die den Kalten Krieg damit verbracht hatte, über die Linie hinweg zu sprechen, die der Beton zog.
Die ausführliche Geschichte, die Herkunft und die Quellenangaben dieses Eintrags liegen bislang nur auf Englisch vor.
Two segments have stood in the garden of the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva since 1991, one of them laid flat. The lying element was painted by Thierry Noir; the standing one carries graffiti of unknown authorship, now largely faded.
The initiative came from the Conference of European Churches, which was based at the centre until 2014 and wanted to act, in its own phrase, as an ecumenical Mauerspecht — a wall woodpecker. Founded after the Second World War by leading church figures, the conference had spent four decades trying to keep the churches in contact across the political division of Europe and to mediate between the two systems, and the segments were meant to point at that as much as at the event itself.
Getting them took two goes at the German state. The conference first approached the board set up in the spring of 1990 by the last GDR government to direct the proceeds of the Limex wall sales to the East German health service. In the end it was the defence ministry in Bonn, which after reunification was responsible for distributing what was left of the border, that arranged for the two elements to come to Switzerland; the centre had only to find about 7,000 Swiss francs for transport and installation.
They were inaugurated on 23 September 1991, during a meeting of the central committee of the World Council of Churches, in a short service led by four representatives of international church bodies — Emilio Castro of the World Council of Churches, Jean Fischer of the Conference of European Churches, Sarah Stephens of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and Kaanaeli Makundi of the Lutheran World Federation — and blessed by Aram Keshishian of the Armenian Apostolic Church. What the clergy spoke about was not the wall that had come down but the visible and invisible ones still standing between people everywhere.
Wie kam es hierher?
Arranged through the German defence ministry in Bonn, which after reunification distributed the remaining wall elements, at the request of the Conference of European Churches; the centre paid about 7,000 Swiss francs for transport and installation.
Quellen
Gelistet von der Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung als #154 und vom Berlin Wall Archive als #140.
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
The two segments in the Ecumenical Centre garden since 1991 and the Thierry Noir painting on the recumbent one, the Conference of European Churches' initiative and its Cold War role, the approach to the GDR proceeds board and the eventual arrangement by the defence ministry in Bonn, the 7,000 Swiss franc cost, and the inauguration service of 23 September 1991 with its named participants.
VerzeichniseintragQuelle abgerufen am 2026-09-17
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide ↗
The source lists this place as a Berlin Wall location. Coordinates, where supplied, are source-reported and may represent a general area. This is not independent verification of authenticity, current presence, or public access.
VerzeichniseintragQuelle abgerufen am 2026-09-17 · Quelleneintrag 154
Berlin Wall Archive ↗
The source lists this place as a Berlin Wall location. Coordinates, where supplied, are source-reported and may represent a general area. This is not independent verification of authenticity, current presence, or public access.
VerzeichniseintragQuelle abgerufen am 2026-09-17 · Quelleneintrag 140
Von der Quelle gemeldete Segmente: 3. Diese Zahl wurde nicht gesondert geprüft.
Von diesem Stück ist noch kein Foto veröffentlicht. Wenn Sie eines aufgenommen haben oder wissen, wann es ankam oder wer es gab, hören wir gern von Ihnen. Zu diesem Eintrag beitragen (Englisch)