08 October 2015 – A segment of the historic Berlin Wall was unveiled on October 7 at the National Museum of the Filipino People in celebration of 25 years of German unity and the 61st anniversary of the establishment of Philippines – Germany diplomatic relations.
In his remarks, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario drew parallels between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Philippines’ EDSA People Power Revolution and noted the importance of becoming a “greater whole by overcoming division.” Guest of honor, Parliamentary State Secretary Madame Brigitte Zypries of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, meanwhile, noted that the Wall is a symbol of the triumph of democracy, freedom, and peace over totalitarianism.
The section of the Berlin Wall donated to the “city and people of Manila” is the 22nd section out of the 40 that originally stood in Potsdamerplatz.
Between 1961 and 1989, the Berlin Wall divided the City of Berlin into two halves, representing two conflicting ideologies. Its collapse in November 1989 was a crucial event in German history that led to the reunification of Germany. END