Check Point Charlie Berlin

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by Carl Kruse

During the Cold War, Checkpoint Charlie was a border between East and West Berlin or more appropriately, the ONLY border where you could legally cross between the divided city.  Named “Charlie” as it was the third checkpoint between East and West Germany and so assigned the third letter of the NATO phonetic alphabet — “C” — corresponding to the word Charlie.  Other checkpoints were Alpha, when first crossing between East and West Germany, and Bravo, the crossing into Berlin via a 1930’s autobahn that entered the then American sector of southwestern Berlin. (As an aside, the NATO phonetic alphabet, used in aviation and maritime communications, is here if anyone is interested.)

Carl Kruse Blog - tanks face each other in Berlin.

Guns uncovered and at the ready, American and Soviet tanks face off 50 meters from each other at Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin, October, 1961.

Checkpoint Charlie — once considered the most dangerous place on Earth — was the innermost crossing between East and West Berlin, and if approaching from the East you would have met a U.S. soldier, today artistically portrayed by the image of Sgt. Jeff Harper who served with the U.S. Army during the Cold War in Berlin.

Carl Kruse Art Blog - Checkpoint Charlie today - photo by Carl Kruse

Checkpoint Charlie today approaching from the former East Berlin.
Art display by Frank Thiel (1994). Photograph by Carl Kruse (2019).

Carl Kruse Blog - Closeup at Checkpoint Charlie - Berlin

Close-up of Sgt. Jeff Harper. Photo: Adam Berry / Getty Images

From the West one would have encountered his Soviet counterpart, whose image is on the reverse.  I tried to find the name of the pictured Soviet soldier, only to run into a dead end. No one seems to know what happened to him. In 1994 when the photo was taken by artist Frank Thiel, the soldier was photographed in a Russian not Soviet uniform, as the USSR had by then dissolved into its individual country components.

Carl Kruse Blog - Soviet soldier at Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin

Approaching Checkpoint Charlie from the West.

Carl Kruse Blog - closeup of Russian soldier at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin

Close up of Russian solder at Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin

It turns out photographer Frank Thiel photographed soldiers from each of the allied armies that had occupied Berlin after World War II — the USA, Great Britain, France and the USSR — though only the American and Russian men were displayed at Checkpoint Charlie, which was a U.S. Army checkpoint. Portraits of all of the soldiers were later sold at an art auction.


Carl Kruse Blog - Peter Thiel images of soldiers in Germany
Thiel’s soldiers ready for action…er…auction – Grisebach Auction House, Berlin.
From left, men from the USA, Great Britain, France and the USSR.

The once most dangerous place on Earth today is a tourist spot with the true victors of the conflict looming large over the diminutive checkpoint, which is the tiny white shed in the lower-middle-right of the photo and where many feared to hear the first salvos of World War III.

Those victors are to the left McDonalds, to the right KFC.

Carl Kruse Blog - Berlin - Checkpoint Charlie Mcdonalds and KFC

Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin / Photo – New York Times

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To a great 2021 from the Carl Kruse Blog.
Contact: carl AT carlkruse DOT com
Other Carl Kruse writings on Berlin include the Berlin Wall, the former Tempelhof Airport and the Boros Bunker in Berlin.

6 thoughts on “Check Point Charlie Berlin

  1. The ebb and flow of life. One day Checkpoint Charlie is possible site for the apocalypse. Fast forward some decades and it is surrounded by fast food joints. I prefer that outcome to the former of course. Love Berlin by the way Kruse.

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