Checkpoint Charlie

About

Checkpoint Charlie (or "Checkpoint C") was the Western Bloc's name for the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War (1947–1991), becoming a symbol of the Cold War, representing the separation of East and West. East German leader Walter Ulbricht agitated and maneuvered to get the Soviet Union's permission to construct the Berlin Wall in 1961 to prevent brain drain, emigration and defection from East Berlin and the wider German Democratic Republic into West Berlin. Soviet and American tanks briefly faced each other at the location during the Berlin Crisis of 1961. On 26 June 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited Checkpoint Charlie and looked from a platform onto the Berlin Wall and into East Berlin, the same day he gave his famous Ich bin ein Berliner speech. After the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc and the reunification of Germany, the American guard house at Checkpoint Charlie became a tourist attraction. It is now located in the Allied Museum in the Dahlem neighborhood of Berlin.

Emigration restrictions, the Inner German border and Berlin

Further information: Eastern Bloc emigration and defection and Inner German border Between 1949 and 1961, over 2½ million East Germans fled to the West. The numbers increased during the three years before the Berlin Wall was erected, with 144,000 in 1959, 199,000 in 1960 and 207,000 in the first seven months of 1961 alone. The 3.5 million East Germans who had left by 1961 totaled approximately 20% of the entire East German population.

The emigrants tended to be young and well educated, including many professionals — engineers, technicians, physicians, teachers, lawyers and skilled workers. The brain drain became damaging to the political credibility and economic viability of East Germany.

By the early 1950s, the Soviet method of restricting emigration was emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc, including East Germany. However, in occupied Germany, until 1952, the lines between East Germany and the western occupied zones remained easily crossed in most places. Subsequently, the inner German border between the two German states was closed and a barbed-wire fence erected.

Even after closing of the inner German border officially in 1952, the city sector border in between East Berlin and West Berlin remained considerably more accessible than the rest of the border because it was administered by all four occupying powers, so Berlin became the main route by which East Germans left for the West.

- Main articles: Eastern Bloc emigration and defection and Berlin Wall On 13 August 1961, a barbed-wire barrier that would become the Berlin Wall separating East and West Berlin was erected by the East Germans. Two days later, police and army engineers began to construct a more permanent concrete wall. Along with the wall, the 830-mile (1336 km) zonal border became 3.5 miles (5.6 km) wide on its East German side in some parts of Germany with a tall steel-mesh fence running along a "death strip" bordered by mines, as well as channels of ploughed earth, to slow escapees and more easily reveal their footprints.

Further information: Eastern Bloc emigration and defection and Inner German border Between 1949 and 1961, over 2½ million East Germans fled to the West. The numbers increased during the three years before the Berlin Wall was erected, with 144,000 in 1959, 199,000 in 1960 and 207,000 in the first seven months of 1961 alone. The 3.5 million East Germans who had left by 1961 totaled approximately 20% of the entire East German population.

The emigrants tended to be young and well educated, including many professionals — engineers, technicians, physicians, teachers, lawyers and skilled workers. The brain drain became damaging to the political credibility and economic viability of East Germany.

By the early 1950s, the Soviet method of restricting emigration was emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc, including East Germany. However, in occupied Germany, until 1952, the lines between East Germany and the western occupied zones remained easily crossed in most places. Subsequently, the inner German border between the two German states was closed and a barbed-wire fence erected.

Even after closing of the inner German border officially in 1952, the city sector border in between East Berlin and West Berlin remained considerably more accessible than the rest of the border because it was administered by all four occupying powers, so Berlin became the main route by which East Germans left for the West.

Main articles: Eastern Bloc emigration and defection and Berlin Wall On 13 August 1961, a barbed-wire barrier that would become the Berlin Wall separating East and West Berlin was erected by the East Germans. Two days later, police and army engineers began to construct a more permanent concrete wall. Along with the wall, the 830-mile (1336 km) zonal border became 3.5 miles (5.6 km) wide on its East German side in some parts of Germany with a tall steel-mesh fence running along a "death strip" bordered by mines, as well as channels of ploughed earth, to slow escapees and more easily reveal their footprints.

Charlie 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). It is in the Friedrichstadt district. Checkpoint Charlie was the only "designated crossing point for foreign tourists and dignitaries and for members of the Allied armed forces", who were not allowed to use the other sector crossing point designated for use by foreigners, the Friedrichstraße railway station.

"The GDR had closed the border in Berlin ten weeks earlier and created a border crossing at the corner of Friedrichstrasse and Zimmerstrasse. It was meant to be used exclusively by Western Allied military personnel, diplomats and people from abroad. The Western Allies protested against this restriction on their freedom of movement, which was guaranteed to them through the city’s four-power status. But eventually they accepted it and set up their own checkpoint on the West Berlin side."

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, KPP Fridrikhshtrasse ). The East Germans referred officially to Checkpoint Charlie as the Grenzübergangsstelle ("Border Crossing Point") Friedrich-/Zimmerstraße. [ citation needed ]

As the most visible Berlin Wall checkpoint, Checkpoint Charlie was featured in movies and books. A famous cafe and viewing place for Allied officials, armed forces and visitors alike, Cafe Adler ("Eagle Café"), was situated right on the checkpoint.

The development of the infrastructure around the checkpoint was largely asymmetrical, reflecting the contrary priorities of East German and Western border authorities. During its 28-year active life, East Germany significantly expanded its infrastructure to include not only the wall, watchtowers, and zig-zag barriers, but also a multi-lane shed where guards checked cars and their occupants. Nevertheless, the Allied authority never erected any permanent buildings. A wooden shed, initially used as the guardhouse, was replaced in May 1976 with a larger metal container, now displayed at the Allied Museum in western Berlin. They reasoned that they did not consider the inner Berlin sector boundary an international border and did not treat it as such.

Stand-off between Soviet and U.S. tanks in October 1961

Soon after the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961, a stand-off occurred between US and Soviet tanks on either side of Checkpoint Charlie. It began on 22 October as a dispute over whether East German border guards were authorized to examine the travel documents of a US diplomat based in West Berlin named Allan Lightner heading to East Berlin to watch an opera show.

According to the agreement between all four Allied powers occupying Germany, there was to be free movement for Allied forces in all of Berlin, and no German military forces from either West Germany or East Germany were to be based in the city. The Western Allies also did not initially recognise the East German state and its right to remain in its self-declared capital of East Berlin, and only recognised the authority of the Soviets over East Berlin.