If you’re looking for sections of the Berlin Wall, you’ll find them everywhere. But none attracts as many people as Checkpoint Charlie.

Between 1961 and 1990, Checkpoint Charlie was the most famous border crossing between East and West Berlin. However, it was not a crossing for ordinary Berliners, but was reserved for Allied personnel, diplomats and foreigners.

The name came from the Americans. The Allies numbered their Berlin checkpoints according to the NATO alphabet: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie. Alpha was near Helmstedt, Bravo on the city limits. Charlie was the third and the most famous. Right in the middle of Friedrichstraße, right in the heart of the city.

Incidentally, the guardhouse at Checkpoint Charlie is a replica. The original is in the Allied Museum in Zehlendorf. What remains is the site itself and the photos that tourists take there every day with fake border guards.

Today, Friedrichstraße is a shopping street and it takes less than ten minutes to walk to Potsdamer Platz.

Photo credits: Pei Peng via Unsplash