Souvenir Hunter Dies as Slab of Berlin Wall Falls
- Share via
WEST BERLIN — A slab of the Berlin Wall tipped over and crushed an unidentified 14-year-old boy to death as he was trying to chip souvenir pieces from it, police said Saturday.
“The (concrete) segment came loose and fell over on the boy like a guillotine. He was killed instantly,” a West Berlin police spokesman said of the accident Friday night.
Hundreds of people have been hammering at the wall for months to take chunks of it home as souvenirs.
It was the first known death around the Wall since East Germany’s democratic revolution in late 1989.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
John Orr was a renowned fire investigator who was also a prolific arsonist, and whose thinly veiled novel helped to convict him. In this episode we hear from the fire captain who first suspected him—and from Orr himself.
Madison McGhee is joined by legendary Dateline host Josh Mankiewicz and esteemed L.A. Times Reporter Richard Winton as the three of them dive into all-things Menendez Brothers, the good, the bad, and the still unknown.
NPR climate editor Sadie Babits talks about why the media has long overlooked the climate crisis, and how that’s starting to change.
