The record
Five segments that stood for years at a demolition firm's yard in Breda, brought to a Dutch museum of the 1944 liberation in September 2023.
Five segments of the Berlin Wall stand on the grounds of the Museum Bevrijdende Vleugels — Wings of Liberation — at Best in North Brabant, a museum of the Allied airborne operations that liberated this part of the Netherlands in September 1944.
They arrived on Wednesday 13 September 2023. A submitted notice printed by the local weekly in neighbouring Son en Breugel says the five had belonged to the Heezen family, who took them over by agreement with heirs of the Stolwerk family, and that for many years they had stood on the yard of Stolwerk's demolition business on the Tilburgseweg in Breda. The same notice says Stolwerk was the only Dutch firm to help demolish the Wall; nothing read here confirms that, and it is recorded as the museum's account rather than as established.
The Federal Foundation's entry for the site is still a placeholder: it records the five segments and the museum, and says further information will follow. Where in Berlin they came from is not known. Five is a substantial holding — more than most national capitals in this catalogue — and for thirty years it stood on a contractor's yard rather than in a museum, which is where a good deal of the Wall spent the time.
How did it get here?
Brought to the museum on 13 September 2023 from the Heezen family, who had taken the five segments over from heirs of the Stolwerk family; they had stood for years at Stolwerk's demolition yard on the Tilburgseweg in Breda. Their origin in Berlin is not recorded.
Sources
Listed by the Federal Foundation as #1377 and by the Berlin Wall Archive as #33.
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
Five segments of the Berlin Wall on the grounds of the Museum Bevrijdende Vleugels at Best; the entry is explicitly a placeholder pending further information.
Inventory listingSource accessed 2026-09-17
(Regio) Uniek stuk Berlijnse muur komt naar museum Bevrijdende Vleugels in Best — DeMooiSonenBreugelKrant ↗
A submitted notice of 15 September 2023: the museum received five Berlin Wall segments on 13 September 2023 from the Heezen family, who had taken them over from heirs of the Stolwerk family; they had stood for many years on Stolwerk's yard on the Tilburgseweg in Breda, and the notice says Stolwerk sloopwerken helped demolish the Wall.
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 1377
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 33
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