Former president and Solidarity founder Lech Wałęsa is to receive the highest distinction granted by the authorities of Berlin - the medal of Ernst Reuter. 

The ceremony will take place in Berlin's Town Hall on Tuesday.

The honour Walesa will receive is named after Ernst Reuter, the mayor of Berlin associated with the airlift of supplies into western Berlin during the beginning of the Cold War period and at the time of the erection of the Berlin Wall.

The current city mayor Klaus Wowereit wrote in a statement that it was the firm attitude and involvement of Lech Walesa in fight for human rights and democracy that contributed to social transformations in Poland and abolishing divisions in Europe.

During the ceremony, Walesa will also put his signature to a giant domino piece. On the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9 – in which Walesa will attend - over 1,000 giant dominos will be erected along a section of the strip that once divided East and West Germany.

The dominos will then be toppled to commemorate the end of the Cold War. (di/pg)