Der Eintrag
Siebenundzwanzig Unterschriften – Bush, Kohl, Gorbatschow, Wałęsa, Merkel, Genscher – auf einem Segment gesammelt, während es durch Europa reiste, und 2015 an das State Department ausgeliehen.
Die ausführliche Geschichte, die Herkunft und die Quellenangaben dieses Eintrags liegen bislang nur auf Englisch vor.
The Signature Segment stands at the entrance of the National Museum of American Diplomacy, in the Harry S. Truman Building that houses the State Department, and has done since 2015. It carries the signatures of twenty-seven people who contributed in one way or another to the fall of the Wall or to German reunification.
The first three were collected on 30 October 2009: George H. W. Bush, Helmut Kohl and Mikhail Gorbachev. Weeks later the Leipzig energy company VNG bought the segment at a televised charity gala, and its chairman Klaus-Ewald Holst tied it to 9 October 1989, when tens of thousands marched in Leipzig. The painting suited that: the Leipzig artist Michael Fischer-Art had covered it with scenes of the Peaceful Revolution and the words *Wir sind das Volk*.
VNG then sent it on what it called an educational journey for democracy and freedom across Europe, and the signatures accumulated as it went. At the Leipzig book fair in 2010 the Leipzig pastor Christoph Wonneberger and Lech Wałęsa signed it. In Chemnitz the theologian Christoph Magirius added his name; in Munich the former Leipzig pastor Stephan Bickhardt, who spoke of the people who died at the Wall; in Essen Horst Teltschik, Kohl's adviser through the unification negotiations; in Stavanger in Norway, Hans-Dietrich Genscher. Angela Merkel signed, as did Rudolf Seiters, the last GDR prime minister Lothar de Maizière, the American secretary of state James A. Baker III, and Brent Scowcroft, who had advised President Bush through reunification.
It was meant to end up in Leipzig. In 2014 VNG offered it instead to the Atlantic Council in recognition of its work on the transatlantic relationship; the council sent it for the twenty-fifth anniversary to the German embassy in Washington, where it was first displayed, and in 2015 it went to what was then called the Diplomacy Center. It remains VNG's property, on permanent loan. On 7 October 2015 the secretary of state John Kerry formally accepted it on the museum's behalf from the German president Joachim Gauck — who had signed it himself in October 2010, as a former East German civil rights campaigner and the first federal commissioner for the Stasi records.
This is one of three Washington listings that carried nothing but the city name and could not be told apart. Its coordinates fall on the Truman Building, and the Foundation's entry for it describes this segment.
Wie kam es hierher?
Bought by the Leipzig company VNG at a charity gala in 2009, painted by Michael Fischer-Art, signed by twenty-seven participants in the events of 1989 and 1990 during a European tour, offered to the Atlantic Council in 2014 and placed on permanent loan with the museum in 2015. It remains VNG property.
Quellen
Gelistet von der Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung als #230 und vom Berlin Wall Archive als #221.
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
The Signature Segment at the National Museum of American Diplomacy since 2015, the twenty-seven signatures beginning with Bush, Kohl and Gorbachev on 30 October 2009, VNG's purchase at the charity gala and Klaus-Ewald Holst's remarks, Michael Fischer-Art's painting, the European tour and the signatories at Leipzig, Chemnitz, Munich, Essen and Stavanger, the later signatures of Merkel, Seiters, de Maizière, Baker and Scowcroft, the 2014 offer to the Atlantic Council and the display at the German embassy, the permanent loan arrangement, and John Kerry's acceptance from Joachim Gauck on 7 October 2015.
VerzeichniseintragQuelle abgerufen am 2026-09-17
After 25 Years, Germans Present the Berlin Wall’s ‘Signature Segment’ to Atlantic Council and Washington ↗
The three-ton segment bears the autographs of more than twenty figures including Gorbachev, George H. W. Bush, Kohl, Wałęsa, Masur and James Baker; it had been shown in Germany, Norway and Belgium, and its owner, Verbundnetz Gas of Leipzig, presented it to the Atlantic Council for Washington in 2014.
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 230
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 221
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)