Last stretch of Berlin Wall gets facelift

EAST GERMAN leader Erich Honecker famously proclaimed in 1989 that the Berlin Wall could remain in place for another 100 years.

It turns out that his faith in East German construction was almost as off the mark as his political instincts. The wall opened for traffic a few months after Honecker spoke. And now the remaining pieces are crumbling physically.

Yesterday, some 19 years after the barrier was opened, restoration work began on the longest remaining stretch, which has been ravaged by age and damaged by vandals and trophy hunters.