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Border Soldiers on High Alert at Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin, 7 October 1989: Border guards at Checkpoint Charlie [1/4]

OBJECT INFORMATION

Info

October 7 1989
Berlin, Friedrichstraße border crossing (Checkpoint Charlie)
Created By: Jürgen Lottenburger

License: Creative Commons License

From the Set

Exhibition theme: A Semblance of Normalcy

Border guards on the 40th anniversary of the founding of the GDR on the East side of the Friedrichstraße border crossing (Checkpoint Charlie), one of seven street crossings between East and West Berlin (between the Soviet and US American sectors) while the Wall was up. Checkpoint Charlie was designated for use by foreign nationals, affiliates of the Allied Forces and diplomats.

Depicts

border guard, group of people, man, October 7, 1989, signboard, tollgate, traffic sign

Context

celebration, family, leave, October 7, 1989, vocational education

People/Organizations

Ministry for State Security, National People's Army

Places

Checkpoint Charlie

Other items in this set

Memory

"I grew up in Plauen (Vogtland) and have lived in Berlin since I completed my studies as an engineer – first in the East, and from 1983, following a bureaucratic marathon, in West Berlin. And although I had left legally, the East German authorities imposed a ban prohibiting me from re-entering the GDR. According to Stasi documents, this ban would not be lifted until 31 December 1999.

When my daughter, who was living in East Berlin with her mother, invited me to attend her wedding in late July 1989, my application was rejected as usual. My daughter's petition against this decision, which she filed with the State Council, is recorded in Stasi documents, and was not officially denied until after the wedding. In reaction, we decided to meet for a short holiday at Lake Balaton in Hungary in August 1989. On this occasion, we were also able to see my son, who lived in East Berlin, too.

On my daughter's birthday, 7 October 1989, which was also the 40th anniversary of the GDR, the border posts in Berlin were on high alert, since all civilians/FRG citizens/everyone from the West had been banned from entering East Berlin. Throughout the city, the security forces were worried that the official celebrations might not go as smoothly as planned. They were under orders to prevent demonstrations and brutally intervened several times that day.

The situation at Checkpoint Charlie on Friedrichstraße has been captured in these pictures. After several attempts at different border crossings, an acquaintance of mine from West Berlin succeeded in crossing into East Berlin at the Oberbaumbrücke and visited my daughter for her birthday."

Jürgen Lottenburger (West Berlin, born 1942)