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"This film explains surveillance techniques,
Checkpoint Charlie, and cooperation with proper civil authorities"
US Army training film TF30-4069
Reupload of a previously uploaded film, in one piece instead of multiple parts, and with improved video & sound.
Public domain film from the
US National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/
3.0/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.
The Soviet Union prompted 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...
By the early
1950s, the Soviet method of restricting emigration was emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc, including
East Germany.[1] 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...
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...
Checkpoint Charlie was a crossing point in the Berlin Wall located at the junction of
Friedrichstraße with Zimmerstraße and Mauerstraße, (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
Helmstedt and its counterpart
Checkpoint Bravo at Dreilinden, Wannsee in the south-west corner of Berlin.
The Soviets simply called it the Friedrichstraße
Crossing Point (КПП Фридрихштрассе).
The East Germans referred officially to Checkpoint Charlie as the Grenzübergangsstelle ("
Border Crossing Point") Friedrich-/Zimmerstraße.
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,
Cafe Adler ("
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...
- published: 27 Nov 2015
- views: 2442