Mauermuseum am Checkpoint Charlie

The Mauermuseum (Wall Museum) at Checkpoint Charlie stands directly at the former Allied control point on Friedrichstraße and has been collecting stories of escape from the GDR since 1963. On display are real escape vehicles, including a BMW Isetta, a mini-submarine, and a hot air balloon. 45 exhibition areas, including its own cinema, are spread across three levels.

Mauermuseum at Checkpoint Charlie: History at the Original Site

The Mauermuseum (Wall Museum) at Checkpoint Charlie is located in Kreuzberg at the corner of Friedrichstraße and Zimmerstraße, just a few meters from the spot where Soviet and American tanks faced each other in October 1961. Directly in front of it stands the reconstructed Allied control barracks, which was inaugurated in August 2000. The museum’s history began in a two-and-a-half-room apartment on Bernauer Straße, where the exhibition “It Happened at the Wall” opened in October 1962. Just eight months later, on June 14, 1963, it moved to the house at Checkpoint Charlie. The founding director was human rights activist Rainer Hildebrandt, who led the museum until his death in January 2004; since then, Alexandra Hildebrandt has managed it. In its early years, the house was much more than an exhibition, as escapes were planned and supported from here. The house was expanded in 1971, 1987, and 1999.

Escape Vehicles, Tunnel 57, and 45 Exhibition Areas

The collection is spread across three levels with a total of 45 numbered areas. On display are the original objects people used to cross the border: a VW 1200 and an Opel P4 with hidden compartments in the bodywork, a BMW Isetta, a self-built mini-submarine, a hot air balloon, and a chairlift. Also included are the original border sign from the checkpoint, a model of the staggered border installations, and documentation of escape tunnel 57. The tour expands the view beyond Berlin, telling of the non-violent struggle for human rights, with Churchill’s 1945 map of Germany, a Charter 77 typewriter, Gandhi’s diary, and Andrei Sakharov’s death mask. At the end of the first floor, there is a small cinema. An audio guide is available in eight languages for visitors, and the Mauermuseum offers themed tours, including those on inventive escapes as well as witnesses and helpers. The collection also includes a list of 43,000 dead from Soviet special camps, and the Mauermuseum maintains a list of victims who died at the Berlin Wall. Over 850,000 visitors come annually.