Berlin Wall Sites to Visit

One of the very few surviving Berlin Wall watchtowers, this BT-11 type observation tower stands near Potsdamer Platz. Originally part of the border fortification system, it is now a small exhibition space documenting the construction and function of the wall’s guard towers.

The Waltersdorfer Chaussee Crossing was a unique transit checkpoint created specifically for West Berliners travelling to Schonefeld Airport in East Berlin. Opening in 1963, it served a purely practical function in the otherwise rigid border system.

This memorial for those who died at the wall consists of seven white crosses, each inscribed with the name of one of the wall’s victims that was shot or died trying to escape. Nearby: Berlin Wall History Mile, Reichstag

In January 1962, a group of students led by brothers Boris and Eduard Franzke began digging a tunnel beneath the S-Bahnhof Wollankstraße, aiming to reach Schulzestraße in East Berlin. After three weeks and approximately 30 metres of digging, the tunnel collapsed under the station platform on 26 January 1962, revealing the escape attempt before anyone […]

Two escape tunnels were dug on Zimmerstraße, close to Checkpoint Charlie. In summer 1962, a tunnel enabled an East German family to escape, but 20-year-old border guard Reinhold Huhn was shot dead by an escape helper during the attempt. In January 1972, three young East Berliners dug their own tunnel at Nr. 8–9 and reached […]