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Sections Of Berlin Wall To Be Unveiled Outside Mountain View Library

MOUNTAIN VIEW (CBS SF) -- Two sections of the Berlin Wall, which once separated East and West Berlin in Germany, were set to be unveiled Thursday outside the Mountain View Public Library, according to city officials.

The 11-foot-tall sections of the wall, which was torn down beginning in 1989 after the collapse of Communism in old East Germany, will be dedicated Thursday at 3 p.m. outside the library at 585 Franklin Ave. in Mountain View, library director Roseanne Macek said.

After the brief ceremony, the city was inviting the public to come to the library's Community Room for a discussion about the Berlin Wall, Macek said.

"We'll have folks who would like to share their personal experiences with the wall in Germany, either on the West German side or the East German," Macek said.

One of the wall sections bears a caricature of Elvis Presley, and the other has a message written on it in German, "Wir Lieben Dich," which means "We Love You," Macek said.

The City Council in 2012 voted to accept the wall sections as a donation from the family of Frank Golzen, a German-born American businessman who had them displayed at his property on Marine Way in Mountain View, according to Macek.

When Golzen died in 2009, his family sold the property and offered the wall sections to the city, and city staff chose to place them at the location outside the library, she said.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

 

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