Checkpoint Charlie: The most famous gateway between East and West
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Checkpoint Charlie today
With the reunification of the country and the demolition of the barriers, the original wooden structure and the border signs were dismantled and are kept in theAllied Museum (Museum of the Allies). The one that today we see in Friedrichstrasse, surrounded by tourists waiting for the free range for a photo, is a reproduction of the ancient guardhouse, complete with a multilingual sign. Even today, in its presence, one feels almost obliged to immortalize this eloquent symbol, which preserves stories of war and death, now distant but still echoing in the city.
At the initiative of human rights activist Rainer Hildebrandt, the Wall Museum, with the official name of Haus am Checkpoint Charlie Mauermuseum. Inside you will find a permanent exhibition on the history of the Berlin Wall and the people connected to it, which connects to the global theme of the struggle for human rights and freedom. Part of the museum is dedicated to the escape attempts of Berliners, intending to flounder from the Soviet East to West Berlin.
photo at Wolfgang Scholvien via flickr
It is impressive to see what tricks and the amount of objects that were used by fugitives in search of freedom: cars, artisanal hot air balloons, homemade mini-submarines or suitcases attached to each other. A testimony of how the human mind can become brilliant in the face of critical circumstances and driven by the will to live.
When you are there, you are a bit incredulous to think that that place has had such a brutal and inhumane past, especially today, looking at the modern architecture of the surroundings and the dynamic Berlin life that welcomes visitors among the shop windows. and the many coffees. Still, this is his story.
