Postcard Checkpoint Charlie 27 October 1961

American and Soviet tanks facing each other at Checkpoint Charlie on October 27, 1961. The confrontation between the American and Soviet tanks lasted for almost 16 hours and brought the world close to direct military conflict during the Cold War. Both parties had orders to shoot if the other party opened fire. The heated situation at Checkpoint Charlie in 1961 was part of the Berlin Crisis, which was one of the most dangerous periods of the Cold War.

Postcard Checkpoint Charlie 27. oktober 1961

The reason for the conflict was East Germany, with the support of the Soviet Union, began building the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961 to prevent people from flee from East to West Berlin. This created intense tension between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. In October 1961, the situation escalated when American and Soviet tanks faced each other at Checkpoint Charlie. This situation arose because American troops tried to pass through Checkpoint Charlie to get access to East Berlin, but was stopped by Soviet soldiers. This led to an intense tightening between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. After the confrontation at Checkpoint Charlie, the American troops could no longer cross the border freely. It was subsequently under strict conditions and only with the necessary permits.

John F. Kennedy, Villy Brandt, Konrad Adenauer Brandenburger Tor - Westberlin 1963

Postcard Checkpoint Charlie 1961 og 1963

Postcard Checkpoint Charlie 1966

Berlin's armory approx. year 1700 and shortcut to "Interesting places in Berlin""

Postcard Brandenburger Tor with the Berlin wall and Tiergarten - 19xx

 

The Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate seen from West Berlin - April 1981

 

The cordoned off area at Brandenburger Tor and the Soviet War Memorial - 1981

When I came to Berlin in the 80s, the area around the Soviet war memorial in the Tiergarten at the Brandenburg Gate was cordoned off. It was because, I was told, the authorities were afraid of riots at the monument.  Not only were they worried about the Russian soldiers who were standing guard, they were also worried about the American soldiers who were there to protect the Soviet military cadets who were on guard. They were afraid that they would be harassed and since you also did not want to e.g. demonstrators had to harass the German police, who were present to ensure that no one harassed the American soldiers, the entire area was cordoned off, so only e.g. selected vehicles could enter.

 

Postcard Bernauer Strasse after August 13, 1961 - Wedding the French sector in Westberlin

The French Sector of Berlin was located in the northwestern part of the city, which was administered by France after World War II, when France was one of the four powers that divided Berlin, along with Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union, as decided at Yalta and Potsdam - the conferences in 1945. The French sector included areas such as Charlottenburg and Tiergarten worked closely with the other Western Allies to ensure stability and security in the city during the Cold War.

Chausseestr./ Boyenstr. in Wedding, the French sector in Westberlin

Westberlin border crossing at Glienicker Brücke: The road leads to Potsdam

The East Germans called the bridge "Brücke der Einheit" - the Bridge of Unity - but instead of uniting, it separated the two very different worlds.  

The map shows the divided Berlin in the four sectors, where the red line separates West Berlin from East.

Fall of the Berlin Wall

The fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 marked one of the most significant events of the 20th century. The wall fell as a result of a series of revolutions in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and others Eastern Bloc countries, which pushed for more political freedom and less oppression.
On 9 November 1989, it was announced that citizens could cross the border freely. This led to thousands of East Germans flocking to the wall and began to tear it down.
"The Wall" was practically shut down during the night, and this was the beginning on the reunification of East and West Germany, which took place on 3 October 1990.

And Honecker didn't get it right either.

 

Berlin is always worth a visit - summer or winter - but where to go? Here are some slightly unusual and very different suggestions for places I like to go.

               

Interesting places

A B C

"Beelitz-Heilstätten" - Old military hospital	Bendlerblock" - Memorial and museum	"Berlin Untervelten" - Berlin's "Underworld"
"Bernauer Straße" - About the Berlin Wall etc.	"Bornholmer Straße - Former border crossing east/west	"Boxhagener Platz - Green area and flea market"

D E F

"Europacenter" - Shopping center etc.	Flakturm Humboldthain" - Bunker facility WW2	"Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg" - Busy airport
"Flughafen Berlin Tempelhof" - Recreational area.	"Escape tunnels between East and West Berlin - Kold krig	"Friedhof Invalidenhof - Soldiers Cemetery

G H I J K

"Old Danish Embassy"  - Tiergarten	Gedenkstätte Plötzensee" - Memorial	"Glienicker Brücke" - Dividing East/ West
- "Pallasstrasse bunker" Bunker i centrum	" Weissensee Jewish Cemetery - Jewish cemetery	Karlshorst - German-Russian Museum"

L M N O P Q R S

"Majakowskiring" – GDR elite in Pankow	Prenzlauer Berg" - Memorial	"Schöneberg town hall"  - JFK tale"
"Schwerbelastungs- körper" - Pressure gauge	" Friedhof Grunewald-Forst - Cemetery for suicides	SS residences – Zehlendorf

S T U V X Y Z

"Stasimuseum" - Stasimuseum	Teufelsberg" - NSA in Grunewald	"Tiergarten" - The Nordic Embassies"
"Tiergarten - Siegessäule" 67 meter tall victory column	"Villa Riefenstahl - Leni Riefenstahls House	"Zionskirche Prenzlauerberg - Where Bonhoeffer preached

Recreational areas:

"Grunewald" - Berlins largest green areas	Strandbad Wannsee" - Europe's largest lake bath	"Tempelhofer Park" - Formerly Tempelhof Airport
"Tiergarten" - Berlin's largest city park	"Volkspark Friedrichshein - Recreational area	"Volkspark Jungfernheide" - Recreational area

Food and drinks:

"Biergarden am Neuen See" in the Tiergarten.	Biergarden "Prater" - From 1837 and the oldest	Biergarden "Schleusenkrug", "Biergarden in Tiergarten".
"Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebap" - known all over Berlin	"Restaurant Zillemarkt" Unfortunately closed by now	"Zur letzten Instanz" - Oldest restaurant in Berlin

A recommendation

 

Berlin's landmark is a bear

I have visited Berlin for many years. The first time was in the late 70s with a school class where the stay made such a big impression on me that I have been coming there very often ever since. The first times I visited the city, it was brutally divided into East and West and separated by the famous and infamous Berlin Wall, which from one day to the next separated families and friends.

The history of the construction of the Berlin Wall is long and begins in the division of Germany after World War II, where the four victors and allies - the Soviet Union, the United States, England and France divided the country between them. The capital, Berlin, from which the Allies were to jointly rule Germany, was also divided into four occupation zones, which each Allied ruled, however, in accordance with the overall agreements the four Allies had jointly

But the marriage was not a happy one and, in short, the differences between the United States, England and France, on the one hand, and the Soviet Union, on the other, became so big that cooperation was almost impossible.

The lack of cooperation led the Soviet Union to voluntarily decide to form the state of the GDR in their part of Germany, where West Berlin were located - now as a desert island in the east.

In the GDR, however, they had the problem that many of its inhabitants would rather live in the somewhat richer "West", where the Americans, unlike the Russians, provided financial assistance for the reconstruction after the "total war". In the Soviet-occupied German territories, the Russians instead dismantled most of the production equipment and moved it to the Soviet Union, and to make matters worse, the Germans were also ordered to pay war damages.

As the flow of refugees from the GDR increased, often by several thousand people a day, the then government of the GDR felt compelled, with the consent of the Soviet Union, to confine its population, otherwise within a few years there would be so few people left that the state no longer really would work. The flight to the West among young people, skilled and highly educated was so that the situation was unsustainable and something had to be done.  
The GDR had otherwise promised its population that after some hard years of toil and toil, the reward would come, but when you could see, not least via western TV, how the nation actually fell further and further behind in relation to the west, many began to doubt truth value of the statement. For the same reason, large parts of the population began to seep to the west and this could most easily happen via Berlin, where the borders between the various sectors were still open.

When a GDR citizen had decided to become a “republican refugee”, he or she typically dressed like people from the West and then subsequently bought a train ticket to Berlin , if one did not already live there. In Berlin, the trip typically continued by "U-bahn" to West Berlin. During such an escape, no significant luggage could be included, as one would easily be recognized as what one was - a refugee - and then taken to the police station for questioning and imprisonment. Although there was free passage to West Berlin, many East German border guards were posted at the border and were largely solely responsible for keeping an eye on any refugees.

The iconic photo of the soldier who escaped from the GDR to the west

Well arrived in West Berlin, you had to sign up in e.g. the Marienfelde refugee camp to apply for a residence permit. Here one was interrogated and later typically assigned to a job according to qualifications and an apartment. Many former GDR citizens have passed through Marienfelde, where there now also is a museum. It is estimated that approx. 1.35 million people passed through the camp in Marienfelde until the fall of the wall in 1989.

West Berlin was a thorn in the side of the so-called communist regimes, which on several occasions tried to get the West Allies to leave Berlin and thus let it become part of the GDR, but when that failed, the Berlin Wall or "Antifaschistischer Schutzwall" as it was officially called in the GDR was built in 1961.

 

"Notaufnahmelager" Marienfelde (refugee camp)

The "Schandmauer" - or wall of shame as it was called in most of the western world - came to surround the whole of West Berlin. The day of shame - 13 August 1961 - was the day when a 41 km long wall was started and further developed the following years right up to the fall of the wall in 1989.

Memorial

It is estimated that approx. 14,000 border soldiers guarded the wall - which by the way consisted of several walls - even though 860,000 mines had been laid, more than 300 watchtowers erected, trenches built and more than 600 well-trained watchdogs exposed. Throughout the period from 1961 - 1989, it is estimated that there were more than 5,000 escape attempts and that a little more than 3,000 people were apprehended. Some of these escape attempts took place through the 57 escape tunnels dug under the Berlin Wall. In all, it is believed that 190 died during escape attempts.

World War II and the Berlin Wall - even after its dismantling - have of course left their mark on the city of Berlin and there is no doubt that these events have had a colossal historical significance, but one must not forget that Berlin is also an extremely interesting and modern city, where life is lived and where the cultural offerings are enormous.

 

Wanted

               

 

 

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