The record
A segment laid on its side rather than stood upright, painted by schoolchildren from the East German town that has been twinned with this one since 1966.
The segment on the Nelson Mandela Promenade at Gonfreville-l'Orcher, near Le Havre, does not stand. It has been tipped on its side and laid crosswise on a concrete block, which is a deliberate and unusual choice: almost every other record in this catalogue keeps the object upright, in the posture it had when it worked.
It is painted with a peace slogan and with German and French flags, the work of five pupils from the youth art school of Teltow together with the artist Hans-Jürgen Brauer. Teltow, on the south-western edge of Berlin, offered the segment to its French twin in 2015. The two towns had been paired since 1966, in the GDR period, and the partnership turned fifty on the day the segment was inaugurated, 4 September 2016. The unveiling was folded into the town's annual commemoration of its liberation from German occupation, with the mayors of both towns present — Jean-Paul Lecoq for Gonfreville-l'Orcher and Thomas Schmidt for Teltow.
Teltow recurs in this catalogue more than any place outside Berlin itself. The building materials firms whose yards there held the surviving elements supplied the segments that went to Colombes, to Uijeongbu in South Korea, and here — the town where the leftovers of the border were stored became, by default, its distribution point.
How did it get here?
Offered by the twin town of Teltow in 2015 and inaugurated on 4 September 2016; painted by five pupils of the Teltow youth art school with the artist Hans-Jürgen Brauer.
Sources & verification
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.
Source accessed 2026-09-17 · Source record 147
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
The segment laid on its side on a concrete block on the Nelson Mandela Promenade, its painting by five Teltow art school pupils with Hans-Jürgen Brauer, Teltow's 2015 offer, the fiftieth anniversary of the twinning on the inauguration day of 4 September 2016, the liberation commemoration, and the attendance of mayors Jean-Paul Lecoq and Thomas Schmidt.
Source accessed 2026-09-17
Last verified: Not yet verified
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