Checkpoint Charlie Checkpoint Charlie ( or " Checkpoint C " ) was the name given by the Western Allies to the best - known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War . GDR leader Walter Ulbricht agitated and maneuvered to get the Soviet Union ' s permission for the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 to stop Eastern Bloc emigration westward through the Soviet border system , preventing escape across the city sector border from East Berlin to West Berlin . Checkpoint Charlie became a symbol of the Cold War , representing the separation of east and west . Soviet and American tanks briefly faced each other at the location during the Berlin Crisis of 1961 . After the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc and the reunification of Germany , the building at Checkpoint Charlie became a tourist attraction . It is now located in the Allied Museum in the Dahlem neighborhood of Berlin . Background . Emigration restrictions , the Inner German Border and Berlin . By the early 1950s , the Soviet method of restricting emigration was emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc , including East Germany . However , in occupied Germany , until 1952 , the lines between East Germany and the western occupied zones remained easily crossed in most places . Consequently , the Inner German border between the two German states was closed and a barbed - wire fence erected . Even after the closing of the Inner German border officially in 1952 , the city sector border in between East Berlin and West Berlin remained considerably more accessible than the rest of the border because it was administered by all four occupying powers . Accordingly , Berlin became the main route by which East Germans left for the West . Hence the Berlin sector border was essentially a " loophole " through which Eastern Bloc citizens could still escape . The 3 . 5 million East Germans who had left by 1961 totaled approximately 20 % of the entire East German population . The emigrants tended to be young and well educated . The loss was disproportionately great among professionals — engineers , technicians , physicians , teachers , lawyers and skilled workers . Berlin Wall constructed . The brain drain of professionals had become so damaging to the political credibility and economic viability of East Germany that the re - securing of the Soviet imperial frontier was imperative . Between 1949 and 1961 , over 2½ million East Germans fled to the West . The numbers increased during the three years before the Berlin Wall was erected , with 144 , 000 in 1959 , 199 , 000 in 1960 and 207 , 000 in the first seven months of 1961 alone . The East German economy suffered accordingly . On August 13 , 1961 , a barbed - wire barrier that would become the Berlin Wall separating East and West Berlin was erected by the East Germans . Two days later , police and army engineers began to construct a more permanent concrete wall . Along with the wall , the 830 mile zonal border became 3 . 5 miles wide on its East German side in some parts of Germany with a tall steel - mesh fence running along a " death strip " bordered by bands of ploughed earth , to slow and to reveal the prints of those trying to escape , and mined fields . The checkpoint . Checkpoint Charlie was a crossing point in the Berlin Wall located at the junction of with and , ( which for older historical reasons coincidentally means ' Wall Street ' ) . It is in the Friedrichstadt neighborhood . Checkpoint Charlie was designated as the single crossing point ( by foot or by car ) for foreigners and members of the Allied forces . ( Members of the Allied forces were not allowed to use the other sector crossing point designated for use by foreigners , the Friedrichstraße railway station ) . The name Charlie came from the letter C in the NATO phonetic alphabet ; similarly for other Allied checkpoints on the " Autobahn " from the West : Checkpoint Alpha at and its counterpart Checkpoint Bravo at Dreilinden , Wannsee in the south - west corner of Berlin . The Soviets simply called it the " Crossing Point ( ) " . The East Germans referred officially to Checkpoint Charlie as the ' ( " Border Crossing Point " ) ' . As the most visible Berlin Wall checkpoint , Checkpoint Charlie is frequently featured in spy movies and books . A famous cafe and viewing place for Allied officials , Armed Forces and visitors alike , " " ( " Eagle Café " ) , is situated right on the checkpoint . It was an excellent viewing point to look into East Berlin , while having something to eat and drink . The checkpoint was curiously asymmetrical . During its 28 - year active life , the infrastructure on the Eastern side was expanded to include not only the wall , watchtower and zig - zag barriers , but a multi - lane shed where cars and their occupants were checked . However the Allied authority never erected any permanent buildings , and made do with the well - known wooden shed , which was replaced during the 1980s by a larger metal structure , now displayed at the Allied Museum in western Berlin . Their reason was that they did not consider the inner Berlin sector boundary an international border and did not treat it as such . Related incidents . Stand - off between Soviet and U . S . tanks in October 1961 . Soon after the construction of the Berlin Wall , a standoff occurred between U . S . and Soviet tanks on either side of Checkpoint Charlie . It began on 22 October as a dispute over whether East German guards were authorized to examine the travel documents of a U . S . diplomat named Allan Lightner passing through to East Berlin to see the opera . By October 27 , 10 Soviet and an equal number of American tanks stood 100 metres apart on either side of the checkpoint . The standoff ended peacefully on October 28 following a U . S . - Soviet understanding to withdraw tanks . Discussions between U . S . Attorney General Robert F . Kennedy and KGB spy Georgi Bolshakov played a vital role in realizing this tacit agreement . Early escapes . The Berlin Wall was erected with great efficiency by the East German government in 1961 , but naturally there were many means of escape that had not been anticipated . Checkpoint Charlie was initially blocked only by a gate ; a citizen of the GDR ( East Germany ) smashed a car through it to escape , so a strong pole was erected . Another escapee approached the barrier in a convertible , took the windscreen down at the last moment and slipped under the barrier . This was repeated two weeks later , so the East Germans duly lowered the barrier and added uprights . Death of Peter Fechter . On 17 August 1962 , a teenaged East German , Peter Fechter , was shot in the pelvis by East German guards while trying to escape from East Berlin . His body lay tangled in a barbed wire fence , bleeding to death , in full view of the world ’ s media . American soldiers could not rescue him because he was a few metres inside the Soviet sector . East German border guards were reluctant to approach him for fear of provoking Western soldiers , one of whom had shot an East German border guard just days earlier . More than an hour later Fechter ’ s body was removed by the East German guards . A spontaneous demonstration formed on the American side of the checkpoint , protesting the action of the East and the inaction of the West . A few days later , the crowd stoned Soviet buses driving towards the Soviet War Memorial , located in the Tiergarten in the British sector . The Soviets tried to escort the buses with Armored Personnel Carrier s ( APCs ) . Thereafter , the Soviets were only allowed to cross via the Sandkrug Bridge crossing ( which was the nearest to Tiergarten ) and were prohibited from bringing APCs . Western units were deployed in the middle of the night in early September with live armaments and vehicles , in order to enforce the ban . Checkpoint Charlie today . Although the wall was opened in November 1989 and the checkpoint booth removed on June 22 , 1990 , the checkpoint remained an official crossing for foreigners and diplomats until German reunification during October 1990 when the guard house was removed ; it is now on display in the open - air museum of the Allied Museum in Berlin - Zehlendorf . The course of the former wall and border is now marked in the street with a line of cobblestones . A copy of the guard house and sign that once marked the border crossing was later built where Checkpoint Charlie once was . It resembles the first guard house erected during 1961 , behind a sandbag barrier towards the border . Over the years it was replaced several times by guard houses of different sizes and layouts ( see photographs ) . The one removed during 1990 was considerably larger than the first one and did not have sandbags . Near the location of the guard house is the " Haus am Checkpoint Charlie " , a private museum opened in 1963 by Rainer Hildebrandt , which was augmented with a new building during the 1990s . The two Soldiers ( one American and one Russian ) represented at the Checkpoint Memorial were both stationed in Berlin during the early 1990s . Developers demolished the East German checkpoint watchtower in 2000 . The watchtower , which was the last surviving original Checkpoint Charlie structure , was demolished to make way for offices and shops . The city tried to save the tower but failed , as it was not classified as a historic landmark . As of August 2011 , nothing has been built at this site and the original proposals for development have been terminated . Checkpoint Charlie has become one of Berlin ' s primary tourist attractions . An open - air exhibit was opened during the summer of 2006 . Gallery walls along the Friedrichstraße and the Zimmerstraße inform on escape attempts , how the checkpoint was expanded , and its significance during the Cold War , in particular the confrontation of Soviet and American tanks in 1961 . An overview of other important memorial sites and museums on the division of Germany and the wall is presented as well . Tourists can have their photographs taken for a fee with actors dressed as allied military police men standing in front of the guard house . Several souvenir stands with fake military items and stores proliferate as well .