03 october, 2009
On November 9, 1989, the wall dividing Berlin in two zones began being torn down. Its construction had been ordered by the authorities of the Eastern sector of the city and began on August 12/13, 1961. After the tearing down began, some fragments of the “iron curtain” found their way to the Shrine of Fatima, some of which are in exhibition at two different sites.
Large fragment transformed into monument
Next to the eastern entrance to the Prayer Area of the Shrine there is a large piece of the Berlin Wall, transformed into a great monument. It weighs 2600 kilograms and it is 3.6 meters high and 1.2 meters wide.
It was acquired, by subscription, by a group of Portuguese people, headed by Virgílio Casimiro, Portuguese emigrant residing in Germany, and arrived at the Shrine with the support of the Consulate General of Portugal in Frankfurt, on March 5, 1991, around 18h00.
The Berlin Wall Monument of Fatima, symbol of the reunification of Germany, was inaugurated on August 13, 1994.
Smaller fragments transformed into rosary
 In showcase #19 of the permanent exhibition of the Shrine of Fatima called ‘Fátima Luz e Paz’, at the Rectory Building, there are also several small concrete pieces from the Berlin Wall.
In this case, though, the small fragments were made into the beads of a rosary that the same emigrant wanted to donate to Holy Father John Paul II, when he visited Fatima on May 13, 1991.
This rosary is still peculiar, for it has the five Glory be’s representing the five new States of the reunified Germany, which were made with stone pieces taken from the Government Houses of each one of those states, donated by the respective presidents.
Msgr. Luciano Guerra, then Rector of the Shrine of Fatima, having in mind the significance of this rosary, related to the message of Fatima, suggested that it stay at the Shrine, where it is a memorial to the events which many say have a lot to do with the second part of the Secret of Fatima.
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