Der Eintrag
Ein Originalsegment, eingebaut in eine nachgebaute Grenzszene – eine Ausstellung, die das Objekt richtig und das Datum falsch hat, denn den Beton, den sie zeigt, gab es 1961 nicht.
Die ausführliche Geschichte, die Herkunft und die Quellenangaben dieses Eintrags liegen bislang nur auf Englisch vor.
Two women and a man stand on ladders at the Wall, waving to relatives on the other side. Scenes like it were a daily sight in divided Berlin after 1961, when families, friends and neighbours were separated overnight, and the Royal Air Force Museum at Cosford has built a reconstruction of one. Set into the stylised wall is an original segment, with a map of the divided city beside it.
The display contains a small mistake worth recording rather than smoothing over, because it is the commonest mistake made about the Wall anywhere. Neither the original segment nor the reconstruction could have existed in that form in 1961: the first barriers were provisional, and the familiar concrete elements only replaced them from the middle of the 1970s. The scene is true and the material is true; they are fifteen years apart.
The segment reached Britain by the shortest possible institutional route. Before the British garrison left Berlin in September 1994, after forty-nine years, it was handed to them at their airfield at Berlin-Gatow. It was donated to the Royal Air Force Museum, kept in store, shown briefly in 2000, and given its permanent place in the Cold War exhibition that opened in February 2007.
This record was held back from publication for some time. The available material described a reconstruction of a border crossing and no institutional source confirmed an original element, so it was left as a listing rather than written up on an assumption. The Federal Foundation's own entry settles it: the reconstruction is real, and so is the segment inside it.
Wie kam es hierher?
Handed to the British garrison at RAF Gatow in Berlin before its withdrawal in September 1994, then donated to the Royal Air Force Museum.
Quellen
Gelistet von der Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung als #124 und vom Berlin Wall Archive als #86.
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
The original segment embedded in the reconstructed border scene at the RAF Museum Cosford, the anachronism of showing 1970s concrete in a 1961 scene, the handover at RAF Gatow before the British withdrawal from Berlin in September 1994, the donation to the museum, its storage and brief display in 2000, and its final placement in the Cold War exhibition opened in February 2007.
VerzeichniseintragQuelle abgerufen am 2026-09-17
RAF Museum Midlands | Free Entry Air Museum in Cosford ↗
The museum's own page: visitors to the National Cold War Exhibition can see a real piece of the Berlin Wall.
Institutionelle QuelleQuelle 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 124
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 86
Von der Quelle gemeldete Segmente: 1. 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)