Long Description:
|
Berlin's
Checkpoint
Charlie is now nothing more than the inner-city border between
the boroughs of Berlin-Mitte and Berlin-Kreuzberg, but for four
decades of Cold War, it was a famous border crossing.
American forces in Germany after World War II numbered the
border crossings according to NATO's phonetic
alphabet. |
Checkpoints Alpha (Berlin-Dreilinden) and Bravo (Helmstedt) were
the beginning and the end of a transit route through East Germany,
open only to Western Allies and West Germans. Checkpoint Charlie
was the only crossing point for members of the Allied forces
between West-Berlin and the Russian occupied eastern part of the
town. It became one of the major symbols of the cold war,
especially after the 1961
Tank stand-off and then again in 1962, when
Peter
Fechter, a young East German bled to death after an uncuccesful
attemp to flee from East Berlin.
|
|
| Tank Stand-off
1961 |
Peter Fechter,
bleeding to death at Checkpoint Charlie, 1962 |
Today, Checkpoint Charlie is a tourist attraction, frequented
by thousands of visitors every year. Don't miss the
Wall
Museum right next to the checkpoint.
Visit Instructions:
-Your own picture of the signs or area. Discussing why it is you
are crossing this border gets you bonus points.
-No one likes to read ‘TFTW’ and other unimaginitive visit
logs.
-Armchair finds can be deleted by the owner or management
group.