Checkpoint Charlie (June 2003)

During the Cold War, Checkpoint Charlie was one of the gates of the Berlin Wall located in the city centre of Berlin, Germany (for foreigners there was only one more: the Friedrichstrasse U-Bahn station) [1].

With the construction of the wall in 1961, the Americans erected this checkpoint in the Friedrichstraße. It was named Charlie, following the NATO phonetic alphabet. Checkpoints Alpha and Bravo were at Helmstedt (the autobahn checkpoint passing from West Germany into East Germany) and at the western edge of Berlin where motor traffic left East Germany and entered West Berlin at Dreilinden. During the remainder of the Cold War, Checkpoint Charlie became a synonym for both separation, and - for the East Germans - freedom.

The checkpoint was dissolved after the fall of the wall in late 1989, and nothing remains of the original site. Instead, modern office buildings have been erected in recent years. The course of the former Wall is now marked on the street with a line of bricks (as in many places of Berlin). A copy of the booth and sign that once marked the border were reerected later. The original booth is in the Allied Museum in Zehlendorf.

Near the location of the Booth is the House of Checkpoint Charlie Museum .

External links

• Photos of Checkpoint Charlie 1989, 1990 and 1999