Back to Berlin

While the world celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall let’s take a look at the Wall on film.
 

 

 
In the 1983 film, ‘Octopussy‘, Roger Moore’s James Bond cruises down the Kufürstendamm to Checkpoint Charlie — the observation tower overlooking the division between East and West Berlin. There Bond sneaks into East Germany to investigate the murder of a fellow M16 agent, 009.
 
Today, you can visit the real-life Checkpoint Charlie to see tales of famous escapes in the other direction. To visit, head to Friedrichstraße 43-45 in the West German neighborhood of Kreuzberg. There you will find the Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie (+49 3025-3725-0), a private museum dedicated to remembering the wall and the divided city of Berlin. Opened in 1962 on a street cut by the wall and facing a row of boarded-up East German apartment buildings, the museum was a act of nonviolent protest. Today, the exhibition is open daily from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., and includes period films and Cold War propaganda. Tickets cost 12.5 Euro.
 
For more on Germany in film, pick up Film+Travel: Europe from Museyon Guides, where Hannah Tucker is guide to Indulging Your Wanderlust in Germany.
 
image by © P J Partridge/Flickr