I. Am. Serious.

In the middle of the night over the quiet holiday weekend, a huge section of the historic Berlin Wall was removed and transported to destinations unknown without warning. The theft was discovered, of course, when the usual flock of tourists arrived to photograph the famous Cold War monument and its artistic and legended graffitti and found…

air.

Who pulled off this brazen heist? Who felt the need for anonymity so deep that it paid double- or triple-time to remove a massive wall over the quietest weekend of the year, one devoted to family and the remembrance of the death of Jesus, and under cover of the deepest darkness?

The usual suspect.

The Guardian has the full report:

After a couple of days spent keeping its head down, the government finally owned up. The federal civil engineering and planning office said it had removed the panels so that construction of the new environment ministry could go ahead on the site.

Quick to attempt to heal the public relations gaffe, a spokeswoman for the planning office said the intention was to eventually incorporate the strip of wall into a visitor centre of the ministry, which onlookers would be able to view through a window. She said the missing segment had been put in storage and was being professionally restored.

Of course, we’ve all heard that one before.

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