checkpoint charlie was an important crossing point in the berlin wall
which separated eastern west berlin from 1961 to 1989. today both the berlin wall
and checkpoint charlie remain some of the most prominent symbols of the cold war
by the early 1950s the soviet restricted the immigration from the rest of the eastern bloc
including east germany however in occupied germany the lines between east germany and
the western occupied zones remained easily crossed in most places subsequently the inner
german border between the two german states was closed and a barbed wire fence erected
even after closing of the inner germany city sector border between east and west berlin it
remained considerably more accessible than the rest of the border because it was administered
by all four occupying powers accordingly berlin became the main route by which east germans left
for the west it became the loophole through which eastern bloc citizens could escape
the 3.5 million east germans who had left by 1961 totaled approximately 20 percent of the entire
east german population the immigrants tend to be young and well educated
the loss was disproportionately great among professionals
engineers technicians physicians teachers lawyers and skilled workers their exodus became
so damaging to the political credibility of an economic viability of east germany
so finally in 1961 the police and army engineers began to construct a more permanent concrete wall
separating east and west berlin ten days after closing the border from august 23rd 1961
the east german authorities allowed tourists from abroad diplomats and military personnel
of the western powers to enter east berlin only to the crossing point of berlin friedrichstrasse or
the underground station they were not allowed to use any of the remaining crossing points
the western military forces accepted the east german directives and soon the u.s army opened
the third checkpoint at friedrichstrasse in the west the non-permanent wooden building was
erected in the middle of the street before august 1961 there had been no us army presence there
checkpoint charlie was designated as the single crossing point on foot or by car for foreigners
and members of the allied forces the main function of the checkpoint was to register
and inform members of the western military forces before entering east berlin foreign
tourists were also informed but not checked in the west generally germans were not allowed
to pass the checkpoint in frederick strasse even though it had never had an official name
the name charlie came from the letter c in the nato phonetic alphabet
similarly for the other island checkpoints on the autobahn such as the checkpoint alpha
and checkpoint brago the soviets simply called it frederick's russia crossing point
checkpoint charlie was maintained by the us army and checkpoint friedrichstrasse by the
east germans border guards in the soviet army checkpoint charlie was made up of a watchtower
and barriers erected by the soviet forces while the american forces
originally had only a temporary wooden shack followed by a temporary metal structure
the checkpoint was curiously asymmetrical during its 28-year active life the infrastructure on the
eastern side was expanded to include not only the wall watch tower and zigzag barriers but a
multi-lane shed where cars and their occupants were checked however the allied authority never
erected any permanent buildings and made to do with a well-known wooden shed which was replaced
during the 1980s by a large metal structure now displayed at the allied museum in western berlin
the reason was that they did not consider the inner berlin sector boundary as an international
border and did not treat it as such as the most visible berlin wall checkpoint checkpoint charlie
was featured in movies and books cafe adler the famous cafe and viewing place for allied officials
armed forces and visitors alike it is situated right on the checkpoint it was
an excellent viewing point to look into east berlin while having something to eat and drink
with the building of the wall and the checkpoint comes more trouble soon after the construction of
the berlin wall a standoff occurred between the us and soviet tanks on either side of
checkpoint charlie it began on october 22nd as a dispute over whether east german border guards
were authorized to examine the tribal documents of a us diplomat based in west berlin
since according to the agreement between all fourth allied powers occupying germany
there was to be free movement for allied forces in berlin and that no german military forces from
either west or east germany were to be based in the city moreover the us did not initially
recognize the east german state and its right to remain itself declared capital of east berlin
instead the americans only recognized the authority of the soviets over east berlin
rather than their east german allies by october 27 10 soviet and an equal number of american tanks
stood 100 yards apart on either side of the checkpoint their standoff ended peacefully on
the 28th following a u.s soviet understanding to withdraw tanks and reduce tensions
there were also several escapes along the wall in the checkpoint after the berlin wall was erected
in 1961 there were many means of escape that had not been anticipated for example checkpoint
charlie was initially blocked only by a gate and a citizen of ddr smashed a car through it
to escape so strong a ball was erected another skb approached the barrier in a convertible
the windscreen removed prior to the event and slipped under the barrier this was repeated two
weeks later so the east germans duly lowered the barrier and added uprights some of the escapes
ended more tragically such as bukharniring who was a member of the east german riot police
on january 1974 about 7 30 pm the 23 year old enter friedrichstrasse border post he is wearing
his uniform and armed with a submachine gun he took one of the passport control guards hostage
using him as a human shield he manages to clear the first barrier but when he bends down to dock
under the second barrier he briefly loses control over his hostage several shots were
fired at him from the guard houses about 9 00 pm nearing dies of his bullet wounds in the hospital
herrera's halle on the evening of april 3rd 1975 a 25 year old herbert entered the border strip from
east berlin at the corner of wilhelm strasse and seymour strasse just before he reached the final
border wall on his way to west berlin he triggered the alarm one of the border guards fired a warning
shot and herbert turned around just as he had decided to climb back into east berlin
a well-aimed shot hit him in the back badly wounded
herbert was taken to a hospital where he died the same night as the helsinki declaration
was about to be signed they hashed up the circumstances surrounding instead
it was not until 1995 after the east germans data ceased to exist that the truth came out
lastly there was peter fector on august 17 1962 a teenage east german peter fector was
shot in the pelvis by east german guards while trying to escape from east berlin
his body late tangled in a barbed wire fence as he bled to death in full view of the world's media
american soldiers could not rescue him because he was a few meters inside the soviet sector east
german border guards were reluctant to approach him for the fear of provoking western soldiers
one of whom had shot an east german border guard just days earlier more than an hour later peter's
body was removed by the east german guards a spontaneous demonstration formed in the american
side of the checkpoint protesting against the action of the east and the inaction of the west
a few days later a crowd threw stones at the soviet buses driving towards the soviet
war memorial the soviets tried to escort the buses with armored personnel carriers
thereafter the soviets were only allowed to cross via the sun crooked bridge
after the german reunification in 1990 a memorial was constructed
on zimmer strasse at the precise path where he had died on the eastern side
and this has been a focal point for some of the commemorations regarding the wall
the wall and the checkpoint will finally meet their end
on the night of november 9 1989 when about three thousand west berliners came to the
checkpoint charlie and several hundred of east berliners to checkpoint fredrik's russia
while the people in the west cried let us in the people in the east pride let us out
at 11 pm the checkpoint friedrichstrasse was closed by the east german border commander
however before midnight the border was opened completely and east germans were allowed to
enter the west after more than 28 years the wall was opened for people from the east
during the following months after opening the berlin wall the checkpoint remained an official
crossing point until the end of june 1990 on the 22nd of june the guard house attractment charlie
was removed with great ceremony followed by the original border sign you are leaving the u.s
sector was dismantled after the november 1990 the east german checkpoint friedrichstrasse was raised
a copy of the guard house was erected on the original place on august 13 2000. it resembles the
first guard house erected during 1961 behind the sandbag barrier towards the border over the years
this has been replaced several times by guard houses of different sizes and layouts checkpoint
charlie has since become one of berlin's primary tourist attractions where some original remnants
of the border crossing blend with reconstructed parts memorial and tourist facilities
an open air exhibit was opened during the summer of 06 gallery walls along friedrichstrasse and
simmerstrasse give information about escape attempts how the checkpoint was expanded
and its significance during the cold war also an overview of other important memorial sites
and museum about the division of germany and the wall is presented until the end of 1999
several empty properties on the area on the former checkpoint friedrichstrasse
were sold to international investors and built on with office buildings developers demolished
the east german checkpoint watchtower in 2000 to make way for offices and shops
the watchtower was the last surviving major original checkpoint charlie structure
the city tried to save the tower but failed as it was not classified as a historic landmark
to this day the area between the east german side of the border crossing remains vacant
providing space for a number of temporary tourists and memorial uses
the checkpoint charlie now provides fishers a reminder of what happened
at the site where they stand and how different the landscape of the city must have once looked
nearby is a small private museum about the checkpoint
called housem checkpoint charlie it was opened in 1963
also in one of the vacant lots is the blackbox cold war exhibition
it has illuminated the division of germany and berlin since 2012.
the free open air exhibit offers original berlin wall segments information about the historic site
the indoor exhibit illustrates berlin's contemporary history with 16 media station
a movie theater and original objects and documents
foreign
in mainstream media checkpoint charlie was prominent in political novels and films
such as the following james bond
the spy who came in the cold
bridge spies
and the man from uncle
checkpoint charlie is indeed a symbol of the cold war
where nearly 900 000 tourists from all over the world visit the checkpoint every year
so that's it for the history of checkpoint charlie until next time bye
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