I'll never forget seeing the the fall of the Berlin Wall unfold live on TV while I was at UCLA. When I again saw the file footage of the man breaking down the wall with the upcoming 20th Anniversary of the event, it reminded me of an similar image on an item that I had stored away a while ago.

In the autumn of 1999, I working at DC Comics' studio in La Jolla, California, when I received a gift box from the corporate headquarters of Time Warner, the parent company of DC. The box was emblazoned "The whole world was watching..." and contained a small piece of the Berlin Wall, commemorating the 10th anniversary of its fall. The fragment was encased in Lexan and labeled "This is a remnant of the Berlin Wall, which stood as a barrier against the free exchange of ideas, information and culture. You helped bring this wall down." I'm not sure how exactly much help I was as I was half of a world away when it happened, but CNN founder Ted Turner was particularly proud of the network's coverage of the event. As he had become elevated to vice-chairman of Time Warner by 1999, I recall hearing he was somehow involved in arranging for this gift to be sent out to company staff – that must have required a very large chunk of the wall.

One thing I missed including in the video is that this item also came with a card from Bob Daly and Terry Semel, the respective chairman and president of Warner Brothers at the time.

Video:

1: Video and description of this piece of the Berlin Wall, of which many were distributed to the staff of Time Warner.

Images:

2-3: Front and side view of the box which is wrapped in an image of the wall being broken down.

4: The fragment is encased in Lexan and stamped "Original Berliner Mauer" which translates from German into "Original Berlin Wall."

5: The reverse is marked with the Time Warner logo, though my specimen was misprinted. Time Warner is the parent company of both DC Comics (recently renamed DC Entertainment) and CNN.

Note: The audio voiceover was recorded with an iPod Nano 5G. The music is taken from Das Deutschlandlied (the German national anthem) and can be found with other national anthems at About.com.