Checkpoint Charlie
The Allied crossing point on Friedrichstraße, at the corner of Zimmerstraße.
At the corner of Friedrichstraße and Zimmerstraße you are standing at the Allied checkpoint that faced the GDR's Friedrichstraße crossing point, one of the most important crossings between East and West Berlin and the place where Soviet and American tanks faced each other on 27 October 1961.1 It was the crossing for foreigners, and the line of the front wall along Zimmerstraße is marked today by a double row of cobblestones.2
So many of the records here are attempts to get through the control point itself rather than over the Wall. Hasso Herschel left on someone else's Swiss passport in October 1961. Heinz Meixner drove a low Austin-Healey Sprite under the barrier in 1963 with his fiancée and her mother hidden in the car. From 1963 a long run of records are people hidden in cars driven by foreigners or Allied soldiers, some caught, like three people in a Chinese journalist's Mercedes, and some not, like a doctor's family in a US sergeant's Cadillac in 1975 or a father and daughter in an American's car in August 1989. In 1986 a lorry carrying five tonnes of gravel smashed through. Along Zimmerstraße, Peter Fechter was shot climbing the Wall in August 1962, and Rudolf Müller's tunnel came up in the cellar of no. 56.
Today's guardhouse and "You are leaving the American sector" sign are replicas, and the Wall segments beside them were put up for visitors.3 A memorial column to Peter Fechter stands in Zimmerstraße about 200 metres from the former checkpoint,1 and about 200 metres of original Wall survive along Niederkirchnerstraße at the Topography of Terror.2 The Berlin Wall Foundation shows a temporary outdoor exhibition on the square in front of the asisi Panorama.4
Sources for this text
- Checkpoint CharlieChronik der Mauer
- Mauerweg: Vom Potsdamer Platz zur Warschauer Straßeberlin.de
- Mauerreste: 'Checkpoint Charlie' (Grenzübergang Friedrich-/Zimmerstraße)Chronik der Mauer
- Checkpoint CharlieStiftung Berliner Mauer
Checked October 2026. Facts taken from an escape record on this site link to that record, which lists its own sources.
37 events: 21 successful escapes, 13 failed attempts and 3 fatal attempts. At least 41 people reached the West in these events.
23 August 1961
Over the wall from Zimmerstraße 85
At about 9.55 p.m. on 23 August 1961 a person came out of the house at Zimmerstraße 85 and got over the wall into West Berlin before the guard could stop them.
30 August 1961
Out of the corner pub and over the wall at Markgrafenstraße
At about 1 p.m. on 30 August 1961 a man walked out of the pub on the corner of Zimmerstraße and Markgrafenstraße and climbed over the wall while the patrol was on the other side of the street.
September 1961
Ingrid crosses at Friedrichstraße on her fiancé's sister's US passport
In late September 1961 a graduate student in West Berlin walked his East Berlin fiancée, her hair dyed to match the photo, through the Friedrichstraße/Zimmerstraße crossing on his sister's US passport.
2 September 1961
Over the barbed wire and the stone wall at Markgrafenstraße
At about 4 p.m. on 2 September 1961 a man of about 20 got over the barbed-wire obstacle and the stone wall at the corner of Markgrafenstraße and Zimmerstraße while the guard was not paying attention.
October 1961
Michael Synowzik through the sewer under Checkpoint Charlie
In October 1961 the schoolboy Michael Synowzik escaped from East Berlin with his father through the sewers under the Zimmerstraße at Checkpoint Charlie, a month after his older brother had fled through the sewers.
21 October 1961
Hasso Herschel leaves on a Swiss passport
Weeks after the Wall went up, the later tunnel builder Hasso Herschel left East Berlin on someone else's Swiss passport and immediately began looking for a way to get his sister out.
May 1962
Reinhard Spiller drives his parents out on a forged diplomatic pass
In 1962 the engineering student Reinhard Spiller, who had got to West Berlin himself two days after the Wall went up, drove his parents out through Checkpoint Charlie using a fellow student's Austrian passport and a forged diplomatic pass, then helped about 50 more people out the same way.
18 June 1962
Rudolf Müller's Tunnel and the Death of Reinhold Huhn
Rudolf Müller brought his wife, two children and sister-in-law through a self-dug tunnel to West Berlin, shooting dead the young border guard Reinhold Huhn when he tried to check their papers.
17 August 1962
Peter Fechter bleeds to death at Zimmerstraße
18-year-old bricklayer Peter Fechter was shot while climbing the Wall on Zimmerstraße and left to die at its foot for about 50 minutes in full view of West Berliners; his companion escaped.
4 May 1963
Two Swiss typesetters and the hidden railwayman from Dresden
Two Swiss men had built a hiding place into their Chevrolet to smuggle out a woman from Dresden; when she would not come, they took her colleague instead – and all three were caught at Checkpoint Charlie.
5 May 1963
Under the barrier in an Austin-Healey Sprite
An Austrian, Heinz Meixner, drove a low-slung Austin-Healey Sprite with its windscreen removed under the barrier at Checkpoint Charlie, carrying his fiancée and her mother hidden in the car.
1964 – November 1967
The Cadillac with a dashboard hideout
Escape helper Burkhart Veigel used a Cadillac DeVille with a hiding place behind the dashboard to smuggle refugees out of the GDR for about three years.
23 May 1964
Smuggled out in a BMW Isetta
Klaus-Günter Jacobi hid his friend Manfred Koster in a modified BMW Isetta, the smallest car ever used for an escape; a student friend drove it across the border into West Berlin.
12 July 1964
The Lloyd 600 with a secretary hidden in the back
An Egyptian geology student drove a Lloyd 600 back to West Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie; in a hiding place at the back was a secretary from the GDR Building Academy.
19 August 1964
Two Spanish workers and a hidden Pankow man at Checkpoint Charlie
At a quarter to one in the morning two Spanish workers employed in West Berlin drove up to Checkpoint Charlie in a Renault. The controllers found a man from Pankow, born in 1939, in a hiding place built into the car.
10 October 1964
A sleeping pill for the four-year-old: the American's Ford at Checkpoint Charlie
An American Lufthansa loader built a hiding place behind the back seat of a Ford to bring out a colleague's cousin and her four-year-old child, who was given a sleeping pill. They were caught at Checkpoint Charlie.
31 January 1965
Kuo Ying-Hu's Mercedes: three people in the boot
A Chinese journalist living in East Berlin, who had permission to drive his Mercedes into West Berlin, tried to take three people from Pankow, born in 1904, 1934 and 1960, out in his boot.
March 1965
A bookshop assistant leaves in the boot of two French officers' car
In March 1965 a 19-year-old East Berlin bookshop assistant asked two French military officers for help; the next evening they drove her to the West in the boot of their car.
16 August 1965
In the shadow of a tourist bus at Checkpoint Charlie
A young man walked out of the Checkpoint Charlie control area unchecked, keeping to the blind side of a West German coach full of American tourists.
19 September 1965
A Teltow schoolgirl behind the dashboard of a Peugeot
A teenage girl from Teltow, whose parents had already fled, was hidden behind the dashboard of a Peugeot by two Americans living in West Berlin. She was found at Checkpoint Charlie.
9 January 1972
The heaters' tunnel under the Zimmerstraße
Two brothers and a friend dug a short tunnel from the sealed border cellars of an East Berlin electricity-company building near Checkpoint Charlie and came up just beyond the Wall.
31 October 1973
Juergen Vicari tries to walk through Checkpoint Charlie in a US Army uniform
On 31 October 1973 East German guards at Checkpoint Charlie detained a man seen in US uniform with sergeant's stripes. According to his fiancée he was Juergen Vicari, an East Berlin actor who had planned to walk out through the checkpoint that day.
15 December 1973
Four East Berliners in the cabinets of a US soldiers' VW bus
On 15 December 1973 a doctor, his wife, their small child and another woman crossed Checkpoint Charlie hidden in cabinets inside a Volkswagen bus with US Army number plates. The East German guards missed them; US military police found them on the western side.
5 January 1974
Burkhard Niering's hostage escape attempt at Checkpoint Charlie
Burkhard Niering, a conscript in the Volkspolizei alert units, left his guard post with his submachine gun, took a Stasi passport controller hostage at Checkpoint Charlie and tried to push through to the West. He was shot at the last barrier.
16 February 1974
A stranger in US uniform is held back at Checkpoint Charlie
At midday on 16 February 1974 two men in US Army uniform walked towards Checkpoint Charlie from the East. One was a US military policeman; the other, who had fallen in beside him, could show no ID and speak no English, and East German guards took him away.
10 September 1974 – 17 September 1974
A US soldier is stopped at Checkpoint Charlie with two East Germans
On the night of 10 September 1974 East Berlin guards stopped a US Army specialist's private car at Checkpoint Charlie and led a woman away from it. The Soviets held the soldier for a week and said he had tried to smuggle two GDR citizens into West Berlin.
3 April 1975
Herbert Halli shot while turning back at Zimmerstraße
After a drinking session on the Palast der Republik building site, 21-year-old Herbert Halli climbed into the border strip at Zimmerstraße. He had already turned back when a guard shot him in the back.
30 May 1975
A doctor's family in the boot of a US sergeant's Cadillac
On the evening of 30 May 1975 a US Army staff sergeant drove an East German doctor, his wife and son through Checkpoint Charlie in the boot of his 1969 Cadillac. The East German guards apparently noticed nothing; US military police found the family and took the sergeant into custody on the western side.
15 August 1975
A pregnant woman and her husband behind the back seat of a US sergeant's Chevrolet
Late on 15 August 1975 a US Army sergeant brought an East German couple, the wife pregnant, through Checkpoint Charlie in a hollowed-out space between the back seat and the boot of his Chevrolet. The East German guards looked closely but let him pass; US military police found the couple.
15 November 1977
In a US Air Force uniform at Checkpoint Charlie
An East Berlin electrician who wanted to work as a musician in the West tried to leave through Checkpoint Charlie dressed as a US Air Force NCO, driven there by the American sergeant who had supplied the uniform, but was recognised and arrested by the Stasi.
25 August 1979
The US ambassador's chauffeur smuggles his family out in the official car
Joerg Habermann, an East German driver assigned to the US ambassador in East Berlin, hid his wife and six-year-old daughter in the boot of the ambassador's car, drove them through Checkpoint Charlie, went back to work – and walked across to the West himself that evening.
26 May 1981
A Costa Rican diplomat's Ford Escort at Checkpoint Charlie
A urologist from San José who had studied medicine in Halle tried to use his diplomatic passport to drive an East German woman out in his boot – for a promised 10,000 Deutschmarks.
17 January 1986
Telecom fitter runs through Checkpoint Charlie
A 21-year-old East Berlin telecommunications fitter, installing surveillance cameras at Checkpoint Charlie, used an unguarded moment to run through the control area to West Berlin.
29 August 1986
Gravel truck through Checkpoint Charlie
Truck driver Hans-Joachim Pofahl, his partner and their eight-month-old baby smashed through Checkpoint Charlie in a truck loaded with five tonnes of gravel.
30 October 1986
Two East Germans climb the barriers at Checkpoint Charlie and are caught
On Thursday 30 October 1986 two East Germans tried to reach West Berlin by climbing over the barriers at Checkpoint Charlie. East German border guards took them away after a brief struggle.
16 July 1988
Over the gate and into the control area at Checkpoint Charlie
A 23-year-old lorry driver working on Berlin building sites climbed a gate and a wire fence and tried to get through the control area at Checkpoint Charlie. People on the western viewing platform watched his arrest, and Western media published photos taken from there.
18 August 1989
Hans-Peter and Peggy Spitzner in an American's car boot through Checkpoint Charlie
In August 1989 a teacher from Chemnitz and his seven-year-old daughter crossed Checkpoint Charlie hidden in the car boot of a young American, Eric Yaw. A Saxon memorial foundation calls them the last known Wall refugees.