The record
Three slabs from Leipziger Platz given to Kofi Annan in 2001 — a gift that was only allowed once Berlin promised to leave the rest of that stretch standing.
Kofi Annan came to Berlin in 2001 and left with an honorary doctorate from the Free University and three segments of the Berlin Wall. They carry a graffito by Kani Alavi on one side and a Kiddy Citny on the other, and they were among the last pieces still standing on Leipziger Platz in Berlin-Mitte.
The gift was contested. Erich Stanke, who had bought the ground and therefore regarded the wall on it as his property, tried to stop the removal — not over money, but because he wanted the few remaining pieces of the border left where they stood and placed under protection. The Senate chancellery took the view that Alavi's image of two people embracing across the Wall would be better off in New York. An agreement was reached when the Senate undertook that the remaining segments and the watchtower at Leipziger Platz would stay permanently in place, and the handover went ahead on 13 July 2001, with the Bundestag president Wolfgang Thierse and the Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit presenting them to Annan at the site itself.
The slabs reached New York in the autumn of 2001 and were unveiled in the garden of the UN headquarters, where they still stand. They came with a round anti-climb pipe lettered Trophy of Civil Rights, which in fact belonged to a different wall graffito, painted by Thierry Noir at Potsdamer Platz — so the ensemble in the garden is an assembly of parts, and the visitor is not told. A glass panel explains the Wall in English as a gift from the people of Germany to the United Nations. The garden is generally closed to the public.
How did it get here?
Three segments from Leipziger Platz, presented in Berlin to Kofi Annan on 13 July 2001 by Wolfgang Thierse and Klaus Wowereit, shipped to New York in the autumn of 2001 and unveiled in the UN garden. The anti-climb pipe delivered with them came from a different segment painted by Thierry Noir at Potsdamer Platz.
Sources & verification
Piece of Berlin Wall, a gift of Germany, unveiled at UN garden — UN News ↗
The 2002 gift, the presenting and receiving officials, and the Annan quotation.
Source accessed 2026-09-17
The Pieces of the Berlin Wall in the United Nations Sculpture Garden — Untapped New York ↗
Kani Alavi's painted face and the arrangement of the slabs.
Source accessed 2026-09-17
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
The three segments given to Kofi Annan in 2001 with graffiti by Kani Alavi and Kiddy Citny, their origin among the last pieces standing on Leipziger Platz, Erich Stanke's opposition and his wish to have the remains protected in place, the Senate's undertaking to leave the remaining segments and the watchtower standing, the handover on 13 July 2001 by Wolfgang Thierse and Klaus Wowereit, the arrival in New York in autumn 2001, the Trophy of Civil Rights anti-climb pipe belonging to a different Thierry Noir segment from Potsdamer Platz, and the glass panel text.
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 208
Last verified: Not yet verified
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