The record
Two elements held by a Belgian photographer who has been going back to Berlin since 1977, and who also owns four Trabants.
The photographer is Lode Anseel. He first saw Berlin on a school trip in 1977 and never let the subject go; when the border opened in November 1989 he wanted to return at once, but did not manage it until the summer of 1990, in time to photograph the closing of Checkpoint Charlie on 22 June. He brought home small fragments bought from a street trader for four East German marks — the going rate, and a detail worth recording, because for a few months in 1990 the Wall was retail.
His collecting grew past the Wall into the GDR generally, and particularly into Trabants: he has four, including one in National People's Army specification, a first-generation P 50 carrying the signatures of Gorbachev, Günter Schabowski and Katarina Witt, and one covered entirely in banknotes and coins from seventy-five countries. The two full elements reached him through that world rather than through the art market: he found a Berlin Trabant enthusiast's advertisement in the magazine Supertrabi.
The regional broadcaster Focus-WTV caught up with him in October 2019, when he lent a 1959 Trabant to Heuvelland's thirtieth-anniversary exhibition at the Kemmel command bunker. It describes him as a bookkeeper from Zwevezele with a passion for the Wall, and quotes him saying he has „a piece of the Berlin Wall at home weighing 3,200 kg“ and a rich archive of photographs. One piece of 3,200 kg and the Foundation's two elements are not the same count, and both readings are kept here.
How did it get here?
Acquired privately through a Berlin Trabant enthusiast contacted via the magazine Supertrabi.
Sources
Listed by the Federal Foundation as #104.
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
Anseel's 1977 first visit, his summer 1990 return and the closing of Checkpoint Charlie on 22 June, the fragments bought for four East German marks, the exhibitions at Menen in 1995 and Wingene in 1999, the Trabant collection, and the two elements acquired via Supertrabi.
Inventory listingSource accessed 2026-09-17
Heuvelland herdenkt de val van de Berlijnse muur — Focus-WTV ↗
Lode Anseel of Zwevezele, described as a bookkeeper with a passion for the Wall since his 1977 visit, lent a 1959 Trabant to Heuvelland's 2019 exhibition and said he keeps a 3,200 kg piece of the Berlin Wall at home.
Press reportSource 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 104
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