Strands of visible rebar emerge through the concrete matrix. It looks like denuded bone. This is a piece of the Berlin Wall Fragment Stone in Seattle. It stands as a silent scar of a past apocalypse.
The Berlin Wall Fragment Stone is located on the corner of North 34th Street and Troll Avenue in Fremont. You can see Lake Union, the Aurora Bridge, and the Fremont Troll from here. The Berlin Wall Fragment Stone is an enigmatic monument.
Germany gifted or sold pieces of the wall as memorabilia. There are at least three Berlin Wall Fragments in Seattle alone. This one arrived in 2001. It was a gift to Boeing. It commemorated Boeing’s participation in the 1948 Berlin Airlift. Boeing donated the Berlin Wall Fragment Stone to History House. History House was a nonprofit in Fremont that is now closed. The Berlin Wall Fragment Stone sat outside on display until 2016.
The building that housed History House was razed. It was replaced with the Data 1 Building. History House moved to a different spot in Fremont before shutting down. They left the Berlin Wall Fragment Stone in place. Hess Callahan Grey Group was the developer during construction. They temporarily relocated Milstead and Cafe Turko to a building across the street. The Berlin Wall Fragment Stone went with them. It rested outside Cafe Turko on the sidewalk. In 2017, both shops and the Berlin Wall Fragment Stone resettled in their new homes.
Now, the Berlin Wall Fragment Stone sits on the corner. People visiting the troll can view it on their way in and out. The corner holds a few other hidden treasures. There is a piece of wood from Pike Place Market before the Great Seattle Fire. It now serves as a side table inside Milstead and Co. It was another parting gift from History House.
Lake Union’s water is cleaner there. This is due to a series of manicured bioswales. The developers and Clean Lake Union installed them. Stephen C. Grey and Associates spearheaded this effort. They take the dirty stormwater from the bridge and filter it back to clear.
The Berlin Wall Fragment Stone has a few other statues nearby. One is of J.P. Patches. 34th Street is also known as J.P. Patches Place. It honors Seattle’s long-running children’s show. Across from that, there is a memorial to Joe Rantz. He was a University of Washington crew rower. It commemorates the Boys in the Boat rowing team. They won gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Which side of the Berlin Wall Fragment Stone faced East Berlin? Which side faced West? Nobody knows. The two sides of that concrete slab had different views and experiences. One was covered in graffiti. The other was blank. One faced a Germany noisy with the liberality of the West. The other faced the rigid silence of the Soviet state. It separated families and communities.
But it no longer matters which side is which. The wall outlived its usefulness. The two sides are now indistinguishable. After all that strife, nobody has to know anymore. The Berlin Wall Fragment Stone stands as a testament to that freedom.