The record
A fragment given to NATO's European headquarters in 1990, set in front of the building that had planned Allied access to Berlin.
A fragment stands beside an oak on the military site at SHAPE, NATO's European command, which moved from France to Belgium in 1967. It was placed in front of the former Live Oak building — and that is the detail worth having, because Live Oak was the tripartite contingency planning staff set up by Britain, France and the United States in 1959 to work out what the West would do if access to Berlin were cut. A piece of the Wall outside the office that spent thirty years planning for the Wall is about as close as this catalogue gets to an object being returned to sender.
How did it get here?
Donated by the German federal government to SHAPE in 1990, recorded as a gesture of gratitude.
Sources
Listed by the Federal Foundation as #101 and by the Berlin Wall Archive as #267.
Mons, B — The Wall Net ↗
The 1990 German federal donation to SHAPE and its position in front of the former Live Oak building.
General referenceSource accessed 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.
Inventory listingSource accessed 2026-09-17 · Source record 101
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.
Inventory listingSource accessed 2026-09-17 · Source record 267
Source-reported segments: 1. This is not a separately verified count.
No photograph of this one has been published. If you have taken one, or know when it arrived or who gave it, we would like to hear. Contribute to this record