‘Lost’ section of Berlin Wall found

The section was discovered after locals found it under overgrown bushes kept secret for decades.

BERLIN — Nearly 30 years after it was toppled, a 20-yard-long section of the Berlin Wall has been discovered — hidden behind bushes, weeds and overgrown trees that over the years slowly obscured a remnant of one of the Cold War era’s most divisive symbols.

Officials confirmed Wednesday that the 11-foothigh cement slabs found in the heart of the German capital had formed part of an inner security barrier to keep East Germans from even getting close to the outer wall to West Berlin. The discovery was both a fresh reminder of the Iron Curtain that once seemed to split the world and an illustration of how neglected parts of Berlin still are, even three decades after the wall fell in 1989.

Just a day after Berlin marked the anniversary of the wall’s construction in 1961, Germans were taking stock of the curious find of the semi-concealed gray cement blocks with the same fervor of an archaeological discovery.

Local authorities quickly placed the graffiti-strewn wall under monument protection status.

“I was totally surprised that there were still undiscovered pieces of the Berlin Wall left,” said Ephraim Gothe, a local city leader in an interview with a German news agency after the latest discovery.

The graffiti-covered remnant was discovered in June by a group of tourists wandering through the thick underbrush in the area just north of the government quarters and near the new headquarters of Germany’s BND intelligence agency.

Its authenticity as a piece of the Berlin Wall, however, was only confirmed this week.

Another longer piece of the wall, about a 260-foot section, was discovered in a similar fashion in January in a northern district of East Berlin in a forest area.

MIRIAM KAROUT/AP German officials said Wednesday that the 11-foot-high cement slabs found in the capital are of the Berlin Wall.