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House at Checkpoint Charlie - Berlin Hotels .com

If you are familiar with the history behind the Berlin Wall, Haus am Checkpoint Charlie (House at Checkpoint Charlie) will be an especially poignant and fascinating attraction to visit. Checkpoint Charlie was the tightly guarded gateway that, during the 28 years that Berlin was literally divided by the Berlin Wall (1961-1989), admitted a few westerners to East Berlin, and virtually no East Berliners to the West.

The house originally served as a place for those who wanted to assist East Germans trying to escape to the West. Because of this history, the owners collected artifacts and stories that can bring that time to life for the visitor, with displays of the heroic, tragic, and sometimes bizarre methods East Berliners once used to escape to the West -- such as hot-air balloons, escape cars, chairlifts, and a small submarine. Equally touching are their stories, documented in English, German, French, and Russian. You can also sit in front of a screen and watch a documentary about the Third Reich or the Cold War era. The English language interpretive audio costs extra, but is recommended.

Checkpoint Charlie itself, located in the Kreuzberg district is not much to look at. There is a rebuilt guard house on the site, but it doesn't suggest the living horror men and women had to go through as they tried to make their way to freedom: the zigzag route that vehicles had to follow, the omniscience of the wall itself, the machine guns, the atmosphere of desperation, or the real possibility of being killed during an escape. To get a sense of all that, the nearby private museum is open to visitors.

Click here for a full list of hotels near Mauer Museum at Checkpoint Charlie.

Hours:
9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Address:
Friedrichstraße 43-45, D-10969 Berlin-Kreuzberg

URL: http://www.mauermuseum.de/english/frame-index-mauer.html