Checkpoint Charlie: The History of the Berlin Wall

by Iain MacGregor

On August 13 1961, work started on erecting an eleven-foot-high concrete barrier that would ultimately cost a billion dollars and would come to serve as the physical and symbolic division between Eastern and Western Europe. Over the next twenty-eight years, thousands would attempt to scale the Berlin Wall and flee communist East Germany - and more than 100 people would perish.

Checkpoint Charlie stood at the confluence of the arterial routes that ran through the heart of Berlin and was the epicentre of global conflict for nearly three decades, until the fall of the Wall in November 1989.

Capturing the mistrust, oppression, paranoia and fear that gripped the world during the era of the Wall's existence - as well as the indomitable spirit of those many people who risked their lives to escape tyranny - Checkpoint Charlie will draw on interviews with key eyewitnesses to tell the heart-rending story of the Berlin Wall and the lives that it changed irrevocably.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Germany, Historical, Audiobook, War

320 pages, Hardcover

First published September 12, 2019

About the author

Iain MacGregor has been an editor and publisher of nonfiction for over twenty-five years. As a history student he visited the Baltic and the Soviet Union in the early 1980s and has been captivated by Soviet history ever since. He has published books on every aspect of the Second World War on the Eastern Front 1941-45 and has visited archives in Leningrad, Moscow and Volgograd. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and his writing has appeared in the Guardian, the Spectator and BBC History Magazine. He lives with his wife and two children in London.

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this title. I found the work pedestrian, and oriented towards pop history instead of a real look at the Berlin Wall as an aspect of the Cold War. Instead we get a lot of interesting first hand accounts and a shallow summary of the history behind the personal accounts. The political description of East Germany failed to mention how Walter Ulbricht maneuvered Nikita Khrushchev to get what Ulbricht wanted for East Germany. The section on Berlin and the intelligence game focused almost exclusively on collecting military intelligence and totally ignored the fact that Berlin was one of the prime SIGINT collection sites during the Cold War and the spy capital of the world. The descriptions of the escapes barely mentioned the West Berlin college students who organized to help East Germans escape to the West for years. A very perfunctory look. Much better books are available on this subject.

[Poppy · Rating 3 out of 5]

All most interesting - I never heard of the place - an eye-opener for me.

The first chapter is nerve jangling and I did think the author must have used a fair share of licence; but heck, who am I to know?

From then on it became more of a staid read. By the ned I was glad it was over.

[Jennifer (not getting notifications) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This was an interesting book about the Berlin Wall during the Cold War. It tells the story of people from the West and East and their experiences. At times it felt like it dragged on a bit, but overall, it was a good and an informative read.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this book were gripping and heart-pounding, and other parts were excruciatingly boring. It took me about two weeks to read the final ten pages because I just couldn’t handle more than a page or two without losing my mind.



Still, I learned a lot. I had always been puzzled why Berlin was split in two while it was in the middle of East Germany, and I hadn’t ever had a clear explanation of how the USSR was involved. I was in 9th grade when the wall came down but hadn’t even heard of it then. (My non-U.S. history education was nonexistent. Thank you, California.)

The author interviewed a bunch of people who had experiences with the Berlin Wall, whether trying to cross it or watch its construction or being a soldier stationed there. He then put all these interviews together in the book regardless of how interesting they were. So one interviewee could say, “I got up in the morning and had breakfast and looked out the window. I knew it was just a few streets from the wall. I would see it going to work sometimes.” And no matter how mundane, it ended up in the book. Then somebody else would describe a hair-raising, heart-pounding escape, and it was impossible to put the book down. So it was very mixed content.

There were also a ton of names thrown around. Sometimes you’d see a person more than once; often not. It was not easy to keep track.

[Maine Colonial · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free publisher’s review copy via Netgalley

The bookends of this high-level history of Cold War Berlin are the middle-of-the-night surprise building of the first version of the Wall in 1961, and then, in 1989, the announcement of free travel between East and West Germany, resulting in an exultant stream of East Berliners crossing, and not long after, the end of the Wall and the reunification of East and West Germany.

Those bookends are detailed and exciting, filled with human interest stories. In between, there are also some affecting tales of successful and deadly escape attempts, a description of JFK’s famous visit to Berlin, the fascinating story of the huge East Germany concert by Bruce Springsteen, and a wonderful story of a Greek Auschwitz survivor who stayed in Germany and became a cantor who served Jewish communities on both sides of the Wall.

There are some tough-going patches in the middle, though, as author MacGregor gets a little too caught up in documenting military vehicles and titles of various Cold War operational groups, which tends to get in the way of what should be a compelling narrative of espionage operations.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

The compelling story of the long-overlooked border crossing in Berlin, this volume deserves a place on your Cold War short list. The author does a fantastic job of incorporating firsthand accounts into the narrative. Along the way, we meet many everyday citizens of Berlin living through some extraordinary times. Although the story is briefly chronicled, it would be great to see more lengthy studies of this important point in world history.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel this book should be awarded five stars as it is compelling, comprehensive, thoroughly researched and clearly told, but at times the tempo drags with a surfeit of detail. It is, however, a very worthwhile book to read for anyone interested in European history.
The 30th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down is approaching - Nov 7, 2019 - a perfect time to read this history of events and collection of eyewitness reports.

I wish my brother would chime in with some of his experiences there, and he had many, but he doesn't read my reviews. Even without his tales and insights, this book provides a wealth of experiences from a variety of people as well as detailing the operations of the wall beginning to end.

I can't share quotes from the book as I was granted ARC from Simon & Schuster through NetGalley.
The book will be available Nov 5.

[Martin Barnet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It doesn’t contain a lot of new information but the personal stories are interesting. At points it felt more like a collection of essays as the narrative wasn’t continuous. The part on the fall of the wall were good but there felt like a significant gap in the story between the early days of the wall and 1989.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating overview of the Cold War, from beginning to end. The events and activities surrounding Checkpoint Charlie were the focus, and the personal stories a nicely added touch.

[Bridie O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful read, sometimes the military detail interrupted the flow of the read. I particularly valued the interviews from different witnesses from the time, different perspectives, it was touching.

[Peter Goodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Checkpoint Charlie: the Cold War, the Berlin Wall, and the most dangerous place on earth,” by Iain MacGregor (Scribner, 2019). It has been almost 30 years since the Berlin Wall fell and the Cold War essentially ended. So Checkpoint Charlie has been history for a full generation and more. I wonder how many millennials know what it was? Still, I do. Swiftly and fluently, MacGregor provides a brief history of the origins of the Cold War as it developed in occupied Berlin; the conditions leading up to the building of the wall (East Germany was hemorrhaging citizens fleeing to the West); and what happened then. He does not take much time with the greater politics. Instead he writes about what it was like for the soldiers and civilians, on both sides, who lived there. Construction of the wall took the Western Allies completely by surprise, and their initial response was no response. MacGregor begins with a young British officer, Lt. Robert Corbett of the Irish Guards, as he leads a British supply train from West Germany through hostile territory into the city in October, 1961. And he ends with Corbett almost 30 years later, as the major general commanding the British garrison in the city when the Wall came down. There are Americans, Germans on both sides, British troops, Berliners, all describing what they saw and how they felt. There is an unbearably tense standoff between American and Soviet tanks in late October, 1961, at the checkpoint, facing one another separated by maybe 100 yards. As an example of how peculiar things were, two American soldiers were ordered to find out whether these were actually Soviet and not East German T-54s (Khrushchev had ordered the national insignia to be painted over as a deception). So they crossed the border, walked around behind the tanks, and actually climbed inside one to find evidence! I still can’t wrap my mind around that---during this awful moment that could easily have turned into open war, a couple of GIs could drive across the border and get into a tank. Things must have been both incredibly tight and yet full of odd little holes. Allied reconnaissance patrols were allowed into the East—sort of—and they spent their time spying out the situation on the ground while being pursued and occasionally attacked by East German forces. East Germany and the USSR had the western sector thoroughly infiltrated; every building was wired and every phone was wiretapped. But the Easterners could see how much richer life was just across the border. They generally believed what their leaders were saying about the promise of life under communism, but who are you going to believe, Walter Ulbricht or your lying eyes? MacGregor lays out the situation leading up to JFK’s speech before the wall: Khrushchev thought the young president was soft and could be bullied. But the speech Kennedy gave, which was not the one originally written for him, was brilliant, and the Berliners roared and roared for him. An excellent account of a period that is quickly being forgotten.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/book...

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

TL;DR

Iain MacGregor’s Checkpoint Charlie tracks the history of the Berlin Wall through the people that lived it. This history is rooted in the lives that built, crossed, and brought down the barrier. Highly recommended for history buffs.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. You can find more of my reviews at my website Primmlife.

Review: Checkpoint Charlie

Ever since I started researching my honeymoon trip to Europe, I’ve become interested in European history. As someone who also enjoys following politics, I’ve also taken an interest in how Russia affects the political and strategic motivations of nations. These two interests have merged into a fascination with Cold War history. No other country, no other city, represents the Cold War than Berlin, Germany. The city split between the Allies at the end of World War II came to symbolize the struggle of East versus West, Capitalism versus Communism. France, Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union divided up Germany into East and West. The nations also split Berlin, and as the ideologies clashed, the city paid the price. Eventually, the Berlin Wall is erected, and the famous crossing in the American section of Berlin takes its place in history. Checkpoint Charlie served as the gateway between capitalist West Berlin and communist East Berlin. In Iain MacGregor’s Checkpoint Charlie the history of this contentious crossing comes alive. MacGregor explores the conflict through the people that inhabited the city, that crossed the border, that lived on the front line of the Cold War.

Iain MacGregor spans the end of World War II to the 90s to show how Berlin split and reunited. In turn, he’s told a story about a very specific portion of the city and the people who lived and worked close to it. The book starts with a border crossing, and we get to see how high tensions were. Checkpoint Charlie follows the border from a semi-open stop to the chaos of the first barrier to the horrors of death alley to finally the collapse and the Soviet soldiers brave decision to not respond with force. But MacGregor puts more than just a chronological retelling of events. He highlights various groups and individuals unique to this situation. For example, he talks about the special force soldiers who basically signed up for a suicide mission in the event of World War III; or Estrongo Nachama, a Jewish cantor, who served and helped the East German Jews survive.

Liaison Missions

I loved this book; it’s filled with excellent details, narratives, and accounts. If I had to pick my favorite section, it would be the chapter describing the various liaison missions for France, Britain, and the U.S. Basically, these were legal, acknowledged spies who operated on the other side of the border. Their missions do not sound like what fiction has taught us spies do, but those missions sound as wild, as dangerous, and as vital to winning the Cold War. To oversimplify, these soldiers were tourists seeking out military information to take pictures of, and to record movements. But that doesn’t convey the danger to which they were subjected.

The chapter dedicated to Major Arthur Nicholson, Jr. deeply affected me. It brought home not only the dangers of the liaison missions but how a single life moves nations. Major Nicholson gave his life for the U.S. nation, and his sacrifice gets an entire chapter here. MacGregor uses the chapter to show the U.S. played the murder to its advantage politically but also how that strategy constrained the U.S. I found fascinating how MacGregor connected the soldier level to national strategy. I wish the book had more of this analysis.

More Politics, Please

The view for most of the book is on the ground. We get a little of the national strategies, but I would have liked more. For example in the chapter on tunnels, how did the Eastern German and Soviet governments try to stop tunneling, other than hoping to discover the escapees? Was it more than a local nuisance? I enjoyed the times that MacGregor connected the local to the global, but I wanted more. His interest was more the people up front and center. Nevertheless, the actions at the border drove national policy. This is not a knock; I just enjoyed seeing the picture from far away as well as up close.

Historical Method

While we do get some of the larger consequences of the Cold War, the hyper focus on the Berlin border remains consistent throughout. Bystanders, guards, soldiers, and diplomats all get equal treatment in the book to give a holistic view of the era. The book had a western bias, though, as many of the interviews come from West Germans. It would have been interesting to get more of the Eastern view. But much of the narrative is built on interviews and firsthand accounts. So, I wonder if it was more difficult to get people who looked back on that time positively.

Also, with interviews, we have to recognize that memories change. But I believe that MacGregor did enough research to blend the interviews in naturally. The quotes add to the tension and immediacy of the moments. While MacGregor is able to describe the horror of trying to escape the East, the interviews drive home that horror much more effectively.

Conclusion

Iain MacGregor’s Checkpoint Charlie lays out the history of the border between East and West Berlin in all too human terms. This account is well research, packed with historical info, and full of first hand accounts. This book appeals to anyone interested in the history of the Cold War or the city of Berlin. It’s a must for understanding the unique time that was the Cold War.

8.5 out of 10!

[Arthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers a broader area than merely happenings at the checkpoint itself, it gives snippets of life in east and west Berlin, spycraft on both sides (including dangers faced by both military and civilians), even discusses rock and roll concerts that took place. The part that dealt with the fall of the wall was of particular interest.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're familiar with Cold War history, some of this might feel same-old/same-old, but as someone who has visited Berlin, I found this more intimate look at the circumstances surrounding the construction, life & fall of the Berlin wall to be extremely fascinating. Lots of heroes to cheer for and villains to hate in this lovely book.

[Mark Durrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-researched and very interesting witness account of the period of European history during the Cold War. At times, the account can be laboriously laden with excess detail - however, well worth reading.

[Mirjam]

East Germany committed a billion dollars to the creation of the Berlin Wall in the early 1960s, an eleven-foot-high barrier that consisted of seventy-nine miles of fencing, 300 watchtowers, 250 guard dog runs, twenty bunkers, and was operated around the clock by guards who shot to kill.

[Bates Bland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Checkpoint Charlie

Not many people can even imagine the horror that comes when your city is split in half. The Berlin Wall divided a city overnight. In the middle of the Wall was the formidable Checkpoint Charlie. People who were desperate for freedom tried to break through the wall and make it to the West. Checkpoint Charlie: The Cold War, The Berlin Wall, and The Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Iain Macgregor tells the stories of these brave individuals. The book dives into how East German citizens fought to make it to freedom and safety, but to understand these stories some background information is needed. In the early 1960s, the stream of intellectuals and the wealthy fleeing East Germany for the capitalist west turned into a flood. Almost 2,000 people were leaving East Germany every day. The East German government and the Soviet Union decided that they had to stop people from leaving. To do this East Germans constructed a 155-kilometer long wall. In the middle of the night, people were thrown out of their homes and cut off from their families. Almost immediately people tried to escape back into West Germany. Many of these people ended up making it, causing panic in the East Germans. In response, the East Germans constructed two walls separated by a no man's land filled with mines, guards, and traps. Checkpoint Charlie tells stories of bravery of German citizens and shows the horror caused by the wall.

One of the main aspects of Checkpoint Charlie is the background on what was happening at the time of the Berlin Wall. While the people and the stories might be the face of the wall, there were always the backroom players. The Soviet Union was built on treachery and lies. While they claimed to be a country for the lower classes, in the end, it was high up wealthy individuals in Moscow who made all of the decisions. Nikita Krushev and Walter Ulbright, the leaders of the Soviet Union and East Germany(respectively), jointly controlled the power in East Germany. At least that is what the East Germans thought. As the book demonstrates, the East German government was really just a puppet government of the Soviet Union. They did what the Soviets wanted them to do. This is important because in the end when the Berlin Wall finally did come down it played a large impact on the entire Soviet Union. This small group of people ended up affecting millions of lives, including the people who tried to cross the Wall.

While some of Checkpoint Charlie is dedicated to the background and politics of the Berlin Wall, most of it revolves around the ordinary German citizens. A few stories stand out. One of the most interesting stories in the book was about a group of tunnelers who tried to escape with family and friends to the other side of the wall. While the escapees were busy tunneling, the Stasi was getting closer all the time. I will not say what happens, but the action is tense. There are escape attempts using cars, planes, boats, trains, tanks, and even hot air balloons. When people are desperate to get out of the totalitarian country that was East Germany they would do anything. Another key aspect of the book was the fact that Berlin was the “City of Spies”. The KGB and the Stasi spied on the West and Mi6 and the CIA spied on the East. There was an interesting story in the book about a Rutgers journalist who would leave a clip of his hair on a table. Every day he would come back to find it gone, taken by the Stasi. However, the Stasi also used to spy on their own citizens. No one knew who to trust and people were suspicious of everyone. It was this suspicion that eventually led to the downfall of the Soviet Union.
Checkpoint Charlie is about what it means to be a city, and what the inhabitants will do to try and make it whole again. It tells the stories of the hundreds of people who tried to cross the border, and it tells the stories of the guards, civilians, and escapees who were killed by the wall. It talks about the politics, the corruption, and the dictators who built the wall and eventually looked on as it was knocked down. Checkpoint Charlie is an amazing read. Iain MacGregor really does an amazing job describing the events that took place. If you ever want to be able to really put yourself into the shoes of the people who lived in Berlin then you need to read Checkpoint Charlie.

[DeWayne Neel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The building of walls has a long history and in my assessment, all have been failures with more damage caused than any peaceful resolutions. The Great Wall of China, the Hadrian Wall of England, the DMZ of Korea, the Berlin Wall of East Germany, and even now the Border Wall with Mexico have all been constructed following a conflict with the enclosed people. Hate and distrust have been the foundational thinking that proved to take years to return to a compromised resolution.
I was on my way to the DMZ when the wall in Berlin was constructed. Ironically, the Commander of my ROTC unit at West Texas State was a young Lt. in Berlin when the wall was constructed and 28 years later was a Maj. General in command, again at Berlin as the wall came down.
What happens when a country locks down its country and shoots those who try to depart? Korea is the only remaining country to do so, and they are in constant need of financial support and are known as the most corrupt of nations. The author reconstructs the long history of Berlin and the people who were separated.
The final chapters reveal the joy of re-unification. It took the death of several hundred innocent East Germans to convince the leaders of the foolishness of the wall. Kennedy said the wall best described the differences between democracy and communism. Reagan said, "Take this wall down!" When it finally happened, it surprised the world, and immediately hatred was replaced with friendly visits by the residents of the former war-torn city.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book turned out to be better than I thought. I'm really not into Cold War history, nor do I know much about it, specifically the East/West Germany story, but after being in Berlin a few years ago and seeing the Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, some locations where attempted wall jumpers were shot, etc, this book intrigued me. I am glad I picked it up. It was an enlightening and enjoyable read about the Wall's history, specifically centered around Checkpoint Charlie. I admit it did drag at times and I had trouble remembering the names and stories of people mentioned throughout the book, but it's a decent 4-star book.

It's also crazy to think that the the wall came down in 1991--only a few years before I was born. Berlin has been reunited together for only a little longer than I have been alive!

And this book really makes me miss Berlin!

[Caleb Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

My family emigrated from west Germany to Boston in the mid-1950’s, before the Cold War started blowing hot, so the story of the GDR and the Berlin Wall has always felt a bit distant to me. It was something from textbooks, documentaries, and Wikipedia pages, not an experience I had any real personal connection to. Checkpoint Charlie changed that.

The book weaves together firsthand accounts from the people who lived at, guarded, patrolled, politicked around, climbed over, tunneled under, and endured life with the Berlin Wall — the most visceral embodiment of the Iron Curtain. From British soldiers, American spies, East German border police, and ordinary Berliners caught between worlds in a city split in half. The narrative is structured around interviews and real voices that make it clear how surreal it must all have been. This approach makes the story of the Wall feel alive and human.

If you enjoyed the Turning Point documentary on Netflix about the Cold War, you’ll enjoy this book at least as much. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to understand not just what happened, but who was there and how they managed to live through it all.

[Scott Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This work, while titled Checkpoint Charlie, is more a history of Berlin during the building and destruction of the Berlin Wall during the Cold War. There is a great mix of personal stories, and I came to learn about various US/British/French/West German military elements, as well as East German/Soviet actors and actions. Berlin was the ultimate flashpoint during the Cold War and the Wall was brutal for the citizen of Berlin, dividing families and leading to the death of many Berliners on both sides (especially East Berlin citizens wanting to escape to the West). Yet, the Wall actually proved a point of stability, and demonstrated that the East, rather than being a paradise, was actively trying to keep out the West and keep its people trapped. When it fell in 1989 (which I can vaguely remember) it came suddenly, and it was fascinating to read how the world's media (in the days before social media) reacted to this story of a lifetime.

It was a very readable book and offered a good combination of personal stories and general history. A reader will get a lot of this book. Worth the time to read, either via hard/e-copy or audiobook.

[Slávek Rydval · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bravurně napsaná kniha nejen o hraničním přechodu Charlie, ale i berlínské zdi, životě v Západním Německu i NDR. Autor si dal tu práci, aby sehnal svědectví jak běžných smrtelníků, tak i těch, kteří tam působili v uniformách. Kniha mi i pomohla vysvětlit si vzpomínky z dětství, kdy jsem spousty věcí nechápal. Kdybych nebyl odpůrcem povinné literatury, tak tohle by byl nutný titul k prospění z občanské výchovy a dějepisu.

Drobná výtka k provedení českého překladu: ač má kniha pevné desky, listy nejsou vázané, ale lepené a vypadávají. To by se u knihy, která není na jedno použití, stát nemělo.

[Christa (haines) Sheridan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-told collection of information from the people who lived before, during and after the Berlin Wall. Their accounts were interesting and moving. It's hard to imagine that by crossing a street, you were entering another world. I was most fascinated by the stories told by the journalists. The one comment about a journalist's Stasi file comprising 96 volumes was incredible and highlights how much people were under scrutiny for everything they said or did during that era.

[Amy Endler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book with first hand accounts of the 29 year history of the Berlin Wall and it's infamous Checkpoint Charlie. Hard to believe that in 2022, the wall has been down longer than it was up, but the impact it made on a generation of people was long lasting. I am glad that I started this book prior to my trip to Berlin last month. It really gave me a great perspective while I was there.

[Dymbula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skvěle napsaná historie rozděleného Berlína, zdi i jejího bourání. Jednou větou o proradnosti komoušů, ať už jsou, či vládnou kdekoliv:
Východoněmecká policie tvrdě zakročovala proti lidem fotografujícím stavbu berlínské zdi se slovy: „Tohle je svobodné město, tady se fotografovat nesmí!“

[Lydia · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little too breathless for my tastes, and also I just do not find the Cold War to be compelling.

[Gretchen Hohmeyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating 3.5. The chapters felt more like short stories than I expected, which meant that some were interesting and some I could have skipped over and not missed anything. Altogether, though, I did hear a lot of stories that I hadn't before about this particular geographical slice of history.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has great stories of survival, escape, how the wall went up and how it came down. Very interesting read. And I enjoyed being able to picture so much of this having been there and seen where the wall had existed. Some of it was a little dry. 3.5 stars.

[Jan Válek · Rating 4 out of 5]

„Zdi v lidských hlavách bývají někdy bytelnější než zdi postavené z betonových panelů.“ primátor Západního Berlína Willy Brandt

[Jindřich Čermák · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Pane Gorbačove, strhněte tu zeď".

Zeď vydržela ještě dva a půl roku od tohoto Reaganova výroku, než ji definitivně odstřelila nezapomenutelná chyba soudruha Schabowského.

Příběh studené války v německém hlavním městě přes pohledy aktérů různých národností. Čtivé a napínavé, jak jen samotná historie může být.