The record
A section unveiled outside a newly opened hostel in 2018 — a segment used as commercial frontage rather than as a memorial.
The hostel is the A&O in Strašnice. The placement is a German hostel chain marking a new building in a former Eastern bloc capital — a category worth keeping visible alongside the museums and embassies, because a good deal of the Wall ended up working as frontage.
It was unveiled on 4 October 2018, the day after the anniversary of German reunification, by the chain's founder, Oliver Winter, who grew up in the GDR; he said the company had bought the piece and asked Berlin artists to paint it, so that people would remember they had not always been free. One face carries a portrait of Hans-Dietrich Genscher, who announced from the balcony of the West German embassy in Prague in September 1989 that the East Germans crowded into its garden could leave for the West.
How did it get here?
Bought by A&O Hostels and painted by Berlin artists at the company's request; unveiled by its founder, Oliver Winter, on 4 October 2018.
Sources
Listed by the Berlin Wall Archive as #337.
List of Berlin Wall segments — Wikipedia ↗
A section unveiled outside the newly opened A&O Hostel in Strašnice in 2018.
General referenceSource accessed 2026-09-17
Část berlínské zdi v pražských Strašnicích zdobí i portrét ministra Genschera – Pražský deník ↗
ČTK in Pražský deník, 4 October 2018: a segment about four metres high was unveiled that day by Oliver Winter, founder of A&O Hostels, in front of the company's newly opened hotel in Strašnice; Winter said the company had bought it and asked Berlin artists to paint it, and one side carries a portrait of Hans-Dietrich Genscher.
Press reportSource accessed 2026-09-17
A Piece of the Berlin Wall Now Permanently Installed In Prague ↗
Expats.cz, 9 October 2018: Oliver Winter unveiled a section of the Wall in front of the newly opened A&O Hostel in Strašnice on 4 October, the day after the anniversary of German reunification.
Press reportSource accessed 2026-09-17
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 337
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