Berlin Wall Sites to Visit

This exhibition at Potsdamer Platz is made up of displays hung between original segments of the Berlin Wall. Created in 2005 as a temporary exhibition, it was made permanent due to very positive public response.

As an important travel hub between the West Berlin sectors, despite it being located entirely in the Soviet occupied West Berlin, its underground U and S-Bahn facilities were only open to West Berlin travelers, for transferring, or to access the border crossing on the ground floor. Nearby: Tränenpalast (Reichstagufer 17), a permanent exhibition of daily […]

The Bergfelde Watchtower is a former border command post hidden in a reforested area near Hubertussee in Hohen Neuendorf, north of Berlin. It now serves as a memorial to Joachim Mehr and other victims who died attempting to cross the border in this area.

The Berliner Unterwelten association offers guided tours through underground bunkers and escape tunnels near Bernauer Straße, revealing the hidden infrastructure of Cold War Berlin.

Site of two of the most daring escapes in Berlin Wall history. In 1983, Holger Bethke fired an arrow trailing a nylon line over the Wall near Treptow Park, pulled a steel cable across, and zipped over the death strip on a homemade wooden pulley. In 1989, his brothers flew two ultralight aircraft into Treptower […]

The northmost checkpoint within the city stretched from Bösebrücke bridge to Malmöer Straße. This border crossing was the first to be breached after the fall of the wall. It was opened by the border guards after crowds amassed on either side, and they had no choice but to open the border. Nearby: A 200m section […]

The Brandenburg Gate became the main symbol of Berlin’s division. From 1961 to 1989, it stood inaccessible in the death strip, visible but unreachable from both sides. On 22 December 1989, the gate was reopened as over 100,000 people gathered to celebrate. Today it is the main site for reunification events.

A low-profile border crossing, at the intersection of Chausseestraße and Liesenstraße, it was the location of an escape attempt on 8 April 1989, during which shots were fired. Nearby: Berlin Wall History Mile, “Kaninchenfeld” (Rabbit Field), Memorial: “Wiedervereinigung”

The Allied checkpoint on the transit motorway between West Berlin and West Germany. All vehicles travelling the Autobahn corridor to Helmstedt passed through here, making it the counterpart to Checkpoint Alpha at the other end. The East German side at Drewitz was heavily fortified, processing thousands of vehicles daily.

At Friedrichstraße, and featured in many cold-war era spy movies and books, this was the most famous of the border crossings. It was the only designated crossing for foreigners and Allied Forces. Many notable historical incidents took place here, including the intense standoff of Soviet and US tanks in 1961, and the fatal escape attempt […]

A simple cross and information panel mark the spot at the Britzer Zweigkanal where 20-year-old Chris Gueffroy was shot on 5 February 1989 – the last person killed by gunfire while trying to cross the Berlin Wall. His death, just nine months before the wall fell, provoked international outrage and became a symbol of the […]

An interactive museum dedicated to everyday life in East Germany. Visitors can sit in a Trabant, explore a reconstructed East German apartment, and learn about the state surveillance, education system, and culture of the GDR. One of Berlin’s most popular museums, offering a vivid picture of life behind the wall.

The Eiskeller exclave was one of the strangest geographical anomalies of the Cold War. Three West Berlin farmsteads, connected to the main city by a corridor just four metres wide and 800 metres long, became an island of freedom surrounded by GDR territory.

Falkensee, a town just west of Spandau in Brandenburg, experienced the economic devastation of the Berlin Wall more acutely than almost any other community. When the border was sealed in 1961, 80% of the town’s male workforce lost their jobs overnight.

The airport where the Berlin Airlift (1948-1949) broke the Soviet blockade of West Berlin, with Allied planes landing every 90 seconds to supply the city. American pilot Gail Halvorsen became the “Candy Bomber” by dropping sweets for children. The Airlift Memorial (“Hungerkralle”) stands at the entrance. Now a public park, the former airfield is used […]

In Schlesischer park, a former four storey watchtower still stands. It was a command tower from which 18 other watch towers were supervised. The nearby border security was also supervised from here.

The former central remand prison of the East German Ministry for State Security (Stasi), where political prisoners were interrogated and detained under brutal conditions. Tours are often led by former inmates who describe their experiences of isolation cells, sleep deprivation, and psychological torture. A deeply affecting memorial to the victims of political repression.