Jan 19, 2008 4:19 pm US/Central
See Part of The Berlin Wall On The Brown Line
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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East German border guards look through a gap in the Berlin Wall created by protesters who dismantled it, Nov. 10, 1989.
AP
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A piece of the Berlin wall will rest at the Lincoln Square Brown Line L stop for people to see in a permanent exhibit.
CBS
The Berlin Wall is a big part of 20th Century history, and now it's also part of Chicago. Saturday, a piece of the wall was unveiled in the heart of the city's German community. As CBS 2's Katie McCall reports, the wall is more than an artifact, it's a symbol.
On a day when the weather could not have been much colder, a symbol of the Cold War debuts at a Chicago L stop.
Local German-Americans crowded into the freezing cold station to see the three-ton chunk of the Berlin Wall – they reminisced about the day in November 1989, when the divider between East and West Germany came down.
"The wall is a sign of oppression that hurts all people," said Eric Schleiffer, a member of the Rheinischer Verien "Mardi Gras" Society Chicago. "And that this came down is the ultimate symbol of freedom and goodness that all people should have and enjoy in the world."
"I thought when the wall went up, I thought it would be life-long; I thought it would never come down," said Reinhard Richter, president of the Rheinischer Verein "Mardi Gras" Society Chicago
The wall is on display at the western Brown Line station, in a part of Chicago now known as Lincoln Square, but what was once called "Germantown."
"It brings peace and prosperity, and shows you the struggle," said Chicagoan Gerhard Stadler. "This neighborhood used to be a struggling neighborhood, now it's a very affluent neighborhood-- it has come a long way; this wall has come a long way."
Ald. Gene Schulter (47th) worked with German leaders to bring the exhibit to his ward.
"The Berlin Wall exhibit will help connect thousands of transit riders to this important symbol of the 20th Century," Schulter said.
The unveiling was a welcome event for exhausted CTA chairman Ron Huberman, who poked fun at the now-resolved CTA funding crisis: "Looking to the future there are many things that we can learn from the Germans including their excellent mass transit," Huberman said.
The wall is a permanent exhibit, so even if you don't normally pass through the neighborhood, you have plenty of time to come see a piece of history. The wall is located at Western and Leeland, just south of Lawrence.
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