Section of Berlin Wall re-erected

Some see the memorial as a tourist stunt

A section of the Berlin Wall has been unveiled as a monument to Germany's painful division, but there has been criticism that it is a tourist stunt.

The Checkpoint Charlie Museum, named after Berlin's former border crossing, has used parts of the original wall to build the new structure.

Nearby, a field of 1,065 crosses represents those who were killed while trying to escape from East Germany.

Sergei Khruschev, son of former Soviet leader Nikita, attended the ceremony.

"We have to learn from this, so there will be fewer walls," he said. "People are still trying to build these walls."

The museum's late founder, Rainer Hildebrandt, collected 120 slabs of the original wall which have now been incorporated into the 140m barrier.

But some city leaders criticised the move, pointing out that the new German capital has already got two monuments to the wall, which was pulled down in November 1989.

Daily newspaper Berliner Morgenpost mused: "How much wall does Berlin need?"

But Mr Hildebrandt's widow, Alexandra, who runs the museum, said the former checkpoint, now surrounded by vendors selling East German souvenirs, would benefit from the move.

"We want to make the world pay attention to what happened," she said.