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KUOPIO
FINLAND
Location:
Wall segment in Kuopio
© Juha Lyytinen
Most of Kuopio’s inhabitants are probably not aware that an original piece of the Berlin Wall has been standing on the premises of a window and door factory in their town since 1990. Since they do not want visitors on the company premises, the exact location of the segment must also remain unmentioned here. But actually, it is not a secret that this testimony of the Cold War stands in the Eastern Finnish city.
In 2014, for example, the Finnish public broadcaster YLE reported on the piece of the Wall on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Wall. A technical manager of the company told in an interview at the time how the segment came to the north-eastern edge of Europe: the former CEO of the company was in Berlin as honorary consul in November 1989 when he was offered the Wall piece.
He gladly accepted the offer because, like many Finns, he was severely restricted in his political and economic freedom by historical experiences with the Soviet Union and its geographical proximity and influence. This changed fundamentally with the Fall of the Wall and the end of the Cold War.