The record
Addressed to President Trump, refused by the White House, driven to the Mexican border for the photographs, and given to a Mexican-American museum.
Few objects in this catalogue have so clearly named addressee. Since 7 February 2020 a segment has stood at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes in Los Angeles carrying a letter painted on it that begins *Dear President Trump*, explains that for twenty-eight years this concrete separated east from west, families and friends, that too many people died trying to cross it whose only crime was wanting to be free, and that the United States played a major part in bringing it down — from Kennedy to Reagan. It offers him one of the last pieces of the failed Berlin Wall to commemorate America's dedication to building a world without walls, and it is signed *Citizens of Berlin*.
The Berlin initiative Die offene Gesellschaft wrote it and sent it to the United States, intending to hand it to the president on 9 November 2019, the thirtieth anniversary. The thanks were genuine and the criticism was explicit: the campaign promise of a wall along the Mexican border is what the last line is about. The White House declined to accept it.
So it travelled instead. It stood first in front of the Washington Monument, then went by truck with stops in Texas and New Mexico to San Diego, where it was set up directly against the border fence with Mexico and photographed there. Thousands have since signed the appeal online. Several parties wanted it permanently; in the end it was given to LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, the Mexican-American museum and cultural centre opened in 2011, and placed on the LA Plaza Paseo walkway — which had just reopened after renovation, and which tells the history of the indigenous people of Los Angeles. It can be seen even when the museum is shut.
The record was held back until now as one of a group of Los Angeles listings carrying nothing but the city name. Its coordinates fall on the museum's address, and the Foundation's entry for this listing describes this segment.
How did it get here?
Painted and sent to the United States by the Berlin initiative Die offene Gesellschaft for the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Wall, refused by the White House, toured to San Diego, and given to LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes in 2020.
Sources & verification
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
The segment at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes since 7 February 2020 and the full text of the letter painted on it, the Die offene Gesellschaft initiative and its intention to present it to President Trump on 9 November 2019, the criticism of the Mexican border wall promise, the White House's refusal, the tour from the Washington Monument through Texas and New Mexico to the border fence at San Diego, the online signatures, and the eventual placement on the LA Plaza Paseo walkway.
Source 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.
Source accessed 2026-09-17 · Source record 183
Last verified: Not yet verified
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