Checkpoint Charlie was the most famous crossing point in the Berlin Wall located at the junction of Friedrichstraße with Zimmerstraße and Mauerstraße, and remained an official crossing for foreigners and diplomats until German reunification in October 1990.

Around 3.5 million East Germans, 20% of the population, managed to leave the idyllic confines of the imperial Soviet border and take up residence in the West before the authorities decided to build a wall to stop any further emigration.