Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin

Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin

Checkpoint Charlie in the Berlin Wall was the best-known border crossing point between East and West Germany, and the only legal passage for foreigners and Allied Forces between the two sides.

Checkpoint Charlie in the Berlin Wall was the best-known border crossing point between East and West Germany, and the only legal passage for foreigners and Allied Forces between the two sides. Operational from 1961 till the German Reunification of 1990, the booth is on display at the open air AlliiertenMuseum (Allied Museum), while the site has a replica of the booth and an installation on the 1961 stand-off between American and Russian tanks following the former’s intervention to defend the fundamental rights of Berlin’s occupying powers. The booth was demolished in a formal ceremony on 22nd June 1990 in the presence of the foreign ministers of the 4 victorious powers of World War II and the German states. Today, there are 2 soldiers carrying American and Russian flags standing guard at the replica of the Allied Checkpoint.

Take a tour of the area to learn about the history of the Checkpoint and hear stories of those that ventured across it. See the sign boards (copy) apprising people of the point at which they were entering and leaving the American sector. Checkpoint Charlie was the scene of several demonstrations, as well as successful and unsuccessful escape attempts from GDR. Most notable was that of Peter Fechter who was shot by East German guards and bled to death in the barbed wire before the eyes of the world.

The erstwhile border is drawn with cobblestones and the nearby Haus am Checkpoint Charlie Museum documents escape attempts across the border from East to West. On display in the museum is an Isetta, the car of choice for several escapees, as well as other modified cars, a mini-submarine used to tow an escapee across the Baltic Sea, hot-air balloons and home-made hang-gliders equipped with a Trabant engine or Java motorbike tank. The museum has an exhibition on the Berlin Wall, from its building to its fall, which presents the contrast between the two sides of the city. There are also exhibitions on NATO, Non-violent struggle for human rights (From Gandhi to Walesa), and Ronald Reagan who played a pivotal role in the fall of the wall.