Anyone who grew up before 1990, has a vivid recollection of the historic Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall. To those of us growing up in the west, the Berlin Wall was a concrete reminder of the harshness of the Soviet Union and all the Warsaw Pact countries. Checkpoint Charlie became a beacon of sorts. A beacon to all peoples wanting to live free. Free from being spied on by friends, neighbors or family for the infamous Stasi (more on them in a later post) and the Communist regime of the GDR.
In a way it was rather disturbing to me to see the degree to which Checkpoint Charlie has been corrupted, now nothing more than a stop in a guide book to many. This corruption is well represented by a McDonald's being located directly at the checkpoint.
Now for a little history lesson, everyone sitting up straight?
Checkpoint Charlie, "Checkpoint C", was a crossing point in the Berlin Wall located at the junction of Friedrichstraße with Zimmerstraße and Mauerstraße, (which for older historical reasons coincidentally means 'Wall Street'). Checkpoint Charlie was designated as the single crossing point (by foot or by car) for foreigners and members of the Allied forces.
The name Charlie came from the letter C in the NATO phonetic alphabet; similarly for other Allied checkpoints on the Autobahn from the West: Checkpoint Alpha at Helmstedt and its counterpart Checkpoint Bravo at Dreilinden, Wannsee in the south-west corner of Berlin. The Soviets simply called it the Friedrichstraße Crossing Point (КПП Фридрихштрассе). The East Germans officially referred to Checkpoint Charlie as the Grenzübergangsstelle ("Border Crossing Point") Friedrich-/Zimmerstraße.
As the most visible Berlin Wall checkpoint, Checkpoint Charlie is frequently featured in spy movies and books. A famous cafe and viewing point for Allied officials, Armed Forces and visitors alike, Cafe Adler ("Eagle Café"), is situated right on the checkpoint. It was an excellent viewing point to look into East Berlin, while having something to eat and drink.
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, watchtower and zig-zag barriers, but a multi-lane shed where cars and their occupants were checked. However the Allied authority never erected any permanent buildings, and made do with the iconic wooden shed, which was replaced in the 1980s by a larger metal structure, now on display at the Allied Museum in western Berlin. Their reason was that they did not consider the inner Berlin sector boundary an international border and did not treat it as such.
