jbutcher
Looking into West Berlin Across Checkpoint Charlie
Photo taken on 16 June 2006 by James Butcher
This is the famous Checkpoint Charlie as seen from the former East Berlin. The US Army Checkpoint wooden guardhouse that is standing now was rebuilt after the original one was torn down. The wooden checkpoint house is all that the US Army had on their side of the wall. The Soviet and East German guards had on their side towers, a wide spot where they would stop and search cars and paperwork and more than twice the amount of soldiers than the West German side. For an East German to cross the wall, he or she needed a special pass with paperwork and permission and it normally included a timeline for them to come back into East Germany. During the Cold War a café was present where you see the modern restaurants, such as Subway on the right, in the photo. This is where leaders, or anyone for that matter, on the west side would sit, have something to eat or drink and look and see the conditions in East Berlin. Also in the photo you can see the modern Mauermuseum, or Wall Museum, which was opened two years after the Wall went up and has stayed open to document both the tragedy and the embarrassment of the Wall to this day.
May, Ernest R. "Americas Berlin: Heart of the Cold War." Foreign Affairs. (1998): 148-160.
McAdams, James A. Germany Divided From the Wall to Reunification. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkpoint_Charlie#Checkpoint_Charl...
Looking into West Berlin Across Checkpoint Charlie
Photo taken on 16 June 2006 by James Butcher
This is the famous Checkpoint Charlie as seen from the former East Berlin. The US Army Checkpoint wooden guardhouse that is standing now was rebuilt after the original one was torn down. The wooden checkpoint house is all that the US Army had on their side of the wall. The Soviet and East German guards had on their side towers, a wide spot where they would stop and search cars and paperwork and more than twice the amount of soldiers than the West German side. For an East German to cross the wall, he or she needed a special pass with paperwork and permission and it normally included a timeline for them to come back into East Germany. During the Cold War a café was present where you see the modern restaurants, such as Subway on the right, in the photo. This is where leaders, or anyone for that matter, on the west side would sit, have something to eat or drink and look and see the conditions in East Berlin. Also in the photo you can see the modern Mauermuseum, or Wall Museum, which was opened two years after the Wall went up and has stayed open to document both the tragedy and the embarrassment of the Wall to this day.
May, Ernest R. "Americas Berlin: Heart of the Cold War." Foreign Affairs. (1998): 148-160.
McAdams, James A. Germany Divided From the Wall to Reunification. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkpoint_Charlie#Checkpoint_Charl...