Für eine deutsche Übersetzung dieser Seite einfach die Brandenburger Flagge anklicken
|
|
Click the Brandenburg Flag for a German translation Für eine deutsche Übersetzung dieser Seite einfach die Brandenburger Flagge anklicken |
 Berlin State |
Vacation 2010September 24, Germany
Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin |
 Checkpoint Charlie |
|
 |
Today, this is just an intersection near Berlin's famous Cafe Adler. But for 40 years, this place made history and at some point it almost
became the spark starting World War III.  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. In October 1961, border disputes led to a standoff and for 22 hours the world was at the brink of war while ten Russian and ten American tanks faced each other just 300 feet apart. |
Erection of the Berlin Wall, August 1961 |
Tank Standoff, October 1961 |
Fall of the Berlin Wall, November 1989 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
| The pictures at the check point show a Russian and an American soldier, two of the last guards who served here when the post was finally decommissioned in October 1990. Today, the whole area is extremely commercialized and everybody who can make a buck - from people posing for pictures to fast food stands - does so. |
 |
 |
|
|
At the Wall-Museum, a private collector displays the history of the wall. It is overpriced and overcrowded, but still very interesting.
|
 |
 |
|
 |
The museum shows an interesting documentation of escape tunnels under the wall (pictures left and right). It also has an impressive collection of escape vehicles, like the famous hot-air balloon (above) that carried two families to freedom in the late 1970s. We would love to show you more, but taking pictures inside is not permitted. |
|
 |
xxThe museum watches it's copyright very eagerly. We appreciate xxtheir efforts, but in our humble opinion, such an important piece xxof world history should not be turned into private property.
|
 |
| From here, we went to a part of history, that now truly belongs to the people: The last remaining pieces of the Berlin Wall. |
 |
Click the left turn sign to get back to the previous page. Or click the right turn signal to move on to Eastside Gallery. |
|
 Back to Vacation 2010 |
 Back to English Main Page |
 Back to Start Page |
