People who chipped pieces from the Berlin Wall after it opened were called Mauerspechte, or “wall woodpeckers.”
After the border opened on 9 November 1989, Berliners and visitors began breaking pieces from the concrete with hammers and chisels. The German nickname compared the repeated tapping to woodpeckers pecking at a tree. Some people wanted a personal souvenir, while others saw the act as a symbolic contribution to dismantling the hated barrier.
The first celebratory damage did not immediately remove the entire Wall. Official demolition proceeded in stages during 1990, using heavy machinery and organized work crews. Souvenir fragments were later sold widely, and their authenticity varies. The nickname thus belongs to the spontaneous popular demolition that followed the opening, rather than to the formal engineering work that cleared most remaining sections.