Checkpoint Charlie
Foto: Ulla Hennig
This is a rather famous place in Berlin: Years ago, when the Berlin Wall was still standing, Allied forces had to cross the border here, and only they were allowed to do so – no crossing allowed for Berlin people or Germans from Western Germany. This was also the place where Russian and American tanks stood in front of each other, threatening each other.
Today a lot of people come here who never saw the Berlin wall standing. Busses are stopping here, emptying loads of tourists with digital cameras in their hands. I remember the time when the street simply ended there. I also remember the time when the first Germans from “the other side” came over, happy, with tears in their eyes, looking at the shops, shaking their heads in disbelief.
I remember all that. But I ask myself: how many of the people who come every day to this place remember the same as I do?
10 responses to “Checkpoint Charlie”
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Ulla Hennig's Weblog 
Ulla, Thanks for sharing this photo. My mental picture of this place is nothing like the reality.
I visited Berlin in 2005 and could not believe the discrepancies between the East and West. We went to the spot where the Berlin wall used to be. It was a very moving visit.
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Ulla, I remember Checkpoint Charlie well as it was before the fall. It, the wall, and East Berlin were a blot on the landscape of humanity that should never be forgotten.
I also remember being questioned by East German authorities when I went over to the east. It was gruesome, the way they conducted themselves.
Today when I travel to an authoritarian fascist state or a state with a highly developed socialist welfare mentality (and there are several such states in the world today), it is easy to see the beginnings in the mindset of the civil overlords in those states that once thrived in the infamous “the evil empire,” as Ronald Reagan called the communist countries, when those countries ruled millions and million of people and murdered millions and millions more of their own brethren in order to maintain their ugly power-hungry grip on their fellowman.
An aside; today the media calls such collective states “nanny states,” but I know (and it sounds as if you also know) that should those media people ever find themselves living in one of those states, they will come to see that such states instead as minions of the evil one.
Aside II: Someone once described a fascist state as a communist state with money. We can see that transformation taking place in China today.
Ulla, Ooh I love the new look of the blog.
Thanks for sharing this picture. I haven’t been to Berlin, but that wall was always big in my mind. Cheered when it came tumbling down. I have been to Cologne and Munich and driven through Germany a bit to Bremerhaven. Gorgeous country. But throughout, scars. They must be even more vivid to those who were there when they were made.
I must look to see if you have any photos of Dresden. I have a curiosity about that city.
Ulla, I appreciate learning your history from your personal perspective. It makes such an interesting difference. I LOVE this part of blogging how the wordl is becoming so up close and personal. Thank you for sharing this
I’m definitely showing my age…I went to Berlin before the wall was built. I met a family split by the wall…the woman’s brother lived in East Berlin, she lived in West Berlin. I met him on the subway coming back from East Berlin…I forgot my stop and he was going to his sister’s birthday, so he invited me to join them while he phoned my hotel to tell my friends where I was. (They took me home after the party.) We visited several times, and the West Berlin family actually went to East Berlin for the first time, feeling very nervous until we got back to safe ground. It made me appreciate being an American. I still don’t take our freedom for granted.
Thanks for the memories!
i have never been to Berlin, but have always wanted to visit. your pictures reinforce that. it’s amazing you have those memories of this street…
You have a wonderful site which I have added to my Reader. Your photo is quite a contrast to the sinister Berlin Wall of yesteryear. I like your other pictures, capturing the beauty of nature in every day life. Thanks for the visit to my blog.
I remember the old Check Point Charlie very well. I also remember the little “museum” (which is hopefully still there) dedicated to the people who tried to flee to their freedom. At that time this photo would have been pure science fiction. Berlin is wonderful and should have never be divided. Ciao. Antonella
I remember the evening the wall was opened – I was at university, and I remember two German students watching the same TV as me with tears rolling down their faces. Now I study/work in the area of post-communism (though my specialised knowledge is mainly about Romania) – it’s very humbling and moving to think about how much things have changed, and yet how much many things haven’t changed.