The record
A segment put up in 1991 between two lakeside roads by a West Berlin property dealer, its Donald Duck graffito kept under Plexiglas against the snow.
The first white settlement in what is now Idaho was founded on the Hope Peninsula in 1809, a hundred and eighty years before the Wall came down. Set on the shore of Lake Pend Oreille, Hope became a favoured place for artists and collectors in the middle of the twentieth century, and in the 1970s the American assemblage artist Ed Kienholz made it his summer home.
Kienholz came to Berlin in 1973 on an exchange programme and the city became his second home. The West Berlin property dealer Klaus Groenke, head of TrigonInvest, took up his work and supported him when he was still little known in Europe; in return Groenke built himself an extensive summer place on the Hope Peninsula. In 1991 he had an original segment erected there, between David Thompson Road and the road named for Kienholz. His staff had given it to him.
The graffiti are kept under Plexiglas against the rain and snow — one of the few records in this catalogue where the paint has been actively protected rather than left to weather. One picture is a Donald Duck in a chef's hat and red bow tie; another hand painted a young man in jeans and a green jacket climbing over the Wall.
How did it get here?
A gift to the West Berlin property dealer Klaus Groenke from his staff, erected on his Idaho property in 1991.
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 180
Source-reported segments: 1. This is not a separately verified count.
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
The founding of Hope in 1809, Ed Kienholz's summer residence and his Berlin exchange from 1973, Klaus Groenke's patronage and his own house on the peninsula, the segment erected in 1991 between David Thompson Road and Kienholz Drive as a gift from his employees, and the graffiti kept under Plexiglas.
Source accessed 2026-09-17
Last verified: Not yet verified
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