For much of its existence, Checkpoint Charlie served a dual function. It was, in the words of former British Foreign Minister Douglas Hurd, a "modest little hut" -- meant to control the flow of people between the two Berlins. But it was also a potent symbol of Cold War rivalries, and the potential for quick and widespread violence to break out.
Checkpoint Charlie, located on Friedrichstrasse, was erected soon after the East Germans sealed off their sector of Berlin in August 1961. Its name came from the fact that two other U.S. checkpoints were already in the area -- Alpha, between East and West Germany, and Bravo, between West Berlin and East Germany -- and the next letter in the U.S. military phonetic alphabet was Charlie.
The checkpoint was erected across from what the East Germans had designated as the only crossing point in the Wall for diplomats and non-Germans. It was first manned by the U.S. military, and later by units from the other Western Allied powers -- France and Britain.
Checkpoint Charlie was the focus of world attention in October 1961. U.S. tanks were called up to the checkpoint after the Soviets and East Germans challenged the right of a U.S. military officer to travel freely between East and West Berlin. Soviet tanks were soon deployed to the East Berlin side of the checkpoint.
For several tense days, the tanks stood facing each other, until both sides backed down.
In the early days of the Wall, Checkpoint Charlie was the site of several successful and spectacular escape attempts by East Germans. One man drove a low-slung sports car at high speed under barriers on the eastern side of the checkpoint and into West Berlin.
But just a year after the Wall was erected, an 18-year-old East German named Peter Fechter tried to escape across the Wall on foot near Checkpoint Charlie. He was shot by East German border guards. For nearly an hour, Fechter lay in the no-man's land between the two Berlins. Despite his cries for help and outrage by West Berlin witnesses, neither side came to his aid. Fechter died soon after East German guards eventually removed him from the scene.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the unification of Germany, Checkpoint Charlie was dismantled and became part of Cold War history. Like much of the area where the Berlin Wall once stood, the property around Checkpoint Charlie is currently being developed into a business center. An East German guard tower and a nearby Checkpoint Charlie museum are nearly all that remain to remind passers-by of the area's turbulent past.