Welcome to Berlin!
Berlin, what a metropolis! With 3.6 million people calling this place home, it is massive. Being here in December may sound a bit crazy and actually, it is. Weather here is a balmy 340 with overcast skies and just enough of a breeze to make you appreciate a good scarf. Seems to be a lot of people hurrying to someplace either walking or on a bicycle and some not dressed for the weather. There have been a few folks rushing along wearing nothing more than a windbreaker, got to be cold! Builds character.
Today is our first day of touring Berlin so not at all strange that we decided to do it using the Hop On – Hop Off bus. We’ve done this in many cities and find that it really is a great way to see a lot of the sites, get some good history, and stay warm in the process. Today that is a very good idea! But before we can board our heated tour bus, we need to meet up at one of the stops. Checkpoint Charlie is the closest so hoofed it over and waited for the bus to arrive.
Checkpoint Charlie is probably the most well known of the checkpoints between East and West Berlin. Its life began in 1961 as a result of the massive “brain drain” that had been occurring from the East to the West. Professionals departed from the East by the thousands. Between 1949 – 1961, over 2.5 million people fled to the West. In 1961, 207.000 people had fled to the West in the first 7 months of the year! This created an economic imbalance that the East couldn’t sustain. Enter “the wall”.
Picture of Sargent Jeff Harper, tuba player / guard for the US Army band stationed in Berlin. And a sign of more modern times, KFC!
No idea who the Russian soldier is pictured here at Checkpoint Charlie
First an area between the borders of East and West was cleared and filled with barbed wire. Military guards were stationed around the area with orders to shoot to kill anyone attempting to cross. That didn’t work well, people still got through so in August, 1961, “The Wall” made its appearance. Along with the wall came an ultimatum from the USSR that all military personnel be evacuated from West Berlin. That didn’t happen so now the Soviets had a reason to build the wall.
Border marker
The erection of the Wall was actually two walls with a corridor of land between them known as the “death strip”. This strip of land was heavily mined (55,000 to be exact) making it almost impossible to walk through. The walls were 96 miles long and 13 feet high with 302 guard towers and 20 bunkers. Probably the first Communist erection that got the attention of the West.
Piece of the Berlin Wall and the last Red Star installed on the Soviet side.
Another near catastrophe occurred in that same year in October when T-54 and M43 tanks faced off at Checkpoint Charlie. Both sides were loaded with live ammunition. If it wasn’t for Robert Kennedy and Gorgi Bolshakov, things could have gotten bad. Instead, everyone got drunk and went home. Maybe.