Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin border crossing in Friedrichstrasse, Germany.
The military checkpoint stands at the intersection of Friedrichstrasse with Zimmerstrasse and Mauerstrasse, marked by a replica guard booth and information panels.
From 1961 to 1989, Checkpoint Charlie served as the principal crossing point between East and West Berlin for Allied forces and foreign visitors.
The border crossing became a central location for Cold War literature, featuring in numerous espionage novels and international motion pictures.
Visitors can reach the site via U-Bahn stations Stadtmitte or Kochstrasse, with the adjacent Mauermuseum offering detailed exhibitions about escape attempts.
In October 1961, American and Soviet tanks faced each other at this checkpoint for 16 hours during a diplomatic standoff.
Location: Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
Inception: 1961
Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible
Part of: Berlin wall, Inner German border
Address: Friedrichstraße
Website: https://berlin.de/en/attractions-and-sights/3560059-3104052-checkpoint-charlie.en.html
GPS coordinates: 52.50744,13.39039
Latest update: December 2, 2025 16:36
More than thirty years after its fall, the Berlin Wall still shapes the city. Between the districts of Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg, and Friedrichshain, fragments of concrete, watchtowers, and memorial plaques recall the division of a capital and its people. Some sections remain intact, others have been turned into memorials or works of art, like the East Side Gallery. Along the old border lines, museums and parks bring these historical traces back to life: Checkpoint Charlie, Bernauer Straße, the Topography of Terror, and Mauerpark. Each site holds a particular stillness, reflecting a time that Berlin does not erase but keeps present in memory. These places invite visitors to understand, to feel, and sometimes simply to remember. At Bernauer Straße, the central memorial preserves original Wall sections alongside a documentation center. The East Side Gallery displays murals by artists from around the world along more than a kilometer of Wall. The border crossing at Bornholmer Straße was the first to open on November 9, 1989. Mauerpark, once a stretch of death strip and border zone, now fills with people gathering to celebrate and relax. Smaller traces like the former watchtower at Schlesischer Busch or the Wall fragment on Liesenstraße sit quietly among residential buildings, reminding passersby that the border once ran straight through daily life.
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A place that is inevitably touristy but interesting when one wants to understand the organization of the city of Berlin during the Cold War.
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