When was checkpoint charlie

Share this. Checkpoint Charlie — photographed by Roger Bull. Online shop Browse Collections. Read Next. Hand Picked Places to Stay in Berlin. Casa Camper Berlin. The Dude Berlin-Mitte. Hotel Neuer Fritz Berlin. The Circus Apartments. Grand Hyatt Berlin. Downtown Apartments Berlin Mitte Wedding. As Powers and Abel were crossing the bridge, Soviet officials at Checkpoint Charlie also released Frederic Pryor, an American student who had been arrested by the East German Stasi and mistakenly branded a spy.

Checkpoint Charlie was later used for a few other prisoner swaps, and its role as a Cold War trading post became a popular motif in spy novels and films. In response to mass protests and international criticism, the East German government finally eased its travel restrictions on November 9, The new policy was supposed to take effect in an orderly fashion, but it turned into a free-for-all after a government official misspoke during a press conference and said the law was changing right away.

That night, impromptu street parties broke out around Berlin. Thousands of East Germans gathered outside Checkpoint Charlie and other crossing points and began screaming for the guards open the gates. Westerners stood on the other side and yelled for their countrymen to come over and join them. While the events of November 9, , signaled the end of a divided Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie remained in operation until seven months later, when its famous beige guardhouse was removed during a ceremony attended by French, British, American, German and Soviet dignitaries.

Secretary of State James Baker said during the proceedings. It was pretty epic. I made a lot of memories. Visited 14 countries in the end I think, and came back pretty fatigued with the whole thing and actually keen to get a job.

Can you imagine? I worked on my career in tech consultancy, settled into a 9 to 5 kinda life and travelling was relegated to something I did for just 25 days a year. For me, was an unmitigated disaster of a year which took all of to get over. After getting over all of that, I suddenly felt like it was time to go back to what I do best; pursue the nomadic lifestyle once again and travel the world.