Checkpoint Charlie Audio Guide

Checkpoint Charlie: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Checkpoint Charlie

   Welcome to one of the most recognizable street corners in the world. You are standing where Friedrichstraße meets Zimmerstraße, right on the district border between Mitte and Kreuzberg. Today it is a busy junction with traffic, visitors and cameras. For nearly three decades it was the best known official crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin. The name sounds like a spy novel, and it practically became one. The crossing turns up in thrillers and spy stories, from The Spy Who Came in from the Cold to the James Bond film Octopussy. But the name began as simple administrative shorthand. The Allies labeled their checkpoints with letters, and the one in the Friedrichstadt area was Checkpoint C. In the NATO phonetic alphabet, C is Charlie. As we go, I will take you through the night the world watched tanks face each other, the stories of those who tried to cross the border, and what stands here now. Take a moment to look at the junction itself. The people who walked these pavements in the early 1960s saw it very differently from the way you see it now.

2. 02

   A City Cut in Two

   To understand why this corner matters, picture Berlin in 1961. The division of the city began as a barricade of barbed wire and roadblocks. Later it was consolidated into the high concrete wall we now call the Berlin Wall. To allow some movement between east and west, crossing points were set up along it, and this was the one that became the most famous. Here the Allied checkpoint stood opposite the East German border crossing on Friedrichstraße. It was the only place where Allied forces were allowed to cross the border. From 22 September 1961, Western soldiers and officers who wanted to visit East Berlin had to report here before entering and again after leaving. Then came the moment that made the place world famous. On 27 October 1961, shortly after the Wall went up, Soviet and American tanks stood directly facing each other at this crossing. It was a moment of real tension in the Berlin Crisis, and the confrontation ended peacefully. A junction became a symbol of the whole standoff between East and West.

3. 03

   Escapes, Tragedy and a Presidential Visit

   Checkpoint Charlie was also a witness to escape attempts from East Berlin. Between 1961 and 1989, hundreds of East Germans fled in ways that sound almost unbelievable. Some used false papers, and some hid in the trunks of diplomats' cars. Not every attempt ended in freedom. In 1962, an 18-year-old named Peter Fechter tried to reach West Berlin. East German border guards shot him, and he was left to die in the border strip in front of the world's media. His death became one of the best known of all the victims of the Berlin Wall. Today a memorial column stands about 200 meters from the former checkpoint. The site also drew world leaders. On 26 June 1963, United States President John F. Kennedy came to Checkpoint Charlie and looked over the Wall into East Berlin from a viewing platform. It was the same day he gave his famous speech with the line, Ich bin ein Berliner. The same ground holds both fear and hope, and that is part of why people still come to stand on it.

4. 04

   What You Can See Here Today

   After the Wall fell in 1989, the East German regime collapsed and Checkpoint Charlie lost its purpose. It was formally closed in 1990. The famous American guard house did not stay. The original now sits in the Allied Museum in the Dahlem neighborhood of Berlin. The small white hut you see at this junction is a replica standing where the original once stood. Look for the large light-box installation by Frank Thiel. It is one of the pieces that now mark the place as a memory of the divided city. For the stories of escape, walk to the corner of Schützenstraße and Zimmerstraße, where an open-air exhibition tells of both failed and successful attempts. Close to the guard house location is also the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, the private Wall Museum. The ground itself is still giving up stories. Almost 37 years after the Wall fell, archaeologists examined the area for the first time. They even climbed into the main cable shaft of the East German border troops' command tower. Up to 4 million visitors come here every year, which makes this perhaps the most famous junction in Berlin.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Before you move on, turn slowly around once on this corner. Notice how an ordinary city junction holds so much: a tank standoff, daring escapes, a presidential visit and a name that travelled around the world. If you want to keep exploring, the nearest underground stations are Stadtmitte and Kochstraße. Bus route 200 also stops at Stadtmitte, and it makes a pleasant way to see more of the city. Look for the memorial column to Peter Fechter, and then ask yourself how a place can be both a tourist stop and a place of remembrance. The more you look at this corner, the more it asks. Which details of the old border can you still read in the street layout? And what would the people who crossed here make of the crowds who now cross it for fun? The answers are all around you, waiting to be noticed.