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3: THE MATERIALITY OF THE BERLIN WALL
and members of the allied forces were allowed to cross the border here
(Klausmeier and Schmidt 2004:163). In October 1961 the crossing was the
site of a near confrontation between the Americans and the Soviets and
tanks were facing each other across the border (Taylor 2006: 412). Today
the site is a hot spot for Berlin Wall tourism. Although the wall and the
crossing infrastructure was removed here in 1990 a reconstruction of the
1960s US Army control hut has been located just inside what used to be the
American Zone complete with an American flag and bags of sand stacked to
create protection from enemy fire. A US army sign is also located near the
control hut stating “You are entering the American sector. Carrying weapons
off duty forbidden. Obey traffic rules” in English, Russian, French and
German. There is also a stall offering visa stamps. Two large photos have
also been placed on either side of the former border, a picture of an
American soldier looking into former East Berlin and an East German
border guard looking back from the other side. The line of the border, as in
most part of the inner city, is marked along the ground with a cobbled line.
Located here is also the Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, something I
will return to later in this chapter.
I’m standing outside Friedrichstraße Station. People are rushing past,
all with a purpose and a place to be. During the division of Berlin,
Friedrichstraße station acted as a railway crossing between East and West.
A complex system of corridors, steps and platforms kept separated to
make sure people did not sneak across, a labyrinth of control. A structure
that was closely connected to the Berlin Wall during the Cold War period,
at least for those who used to cross it was the Tränenpalast, or Palace of
Tears, a large hall at the Friedrichstraße Station. This was one of the main
crossings between East and West Berlin both for Germans and people
from other nationalities. The name refers to the many tearful goodbyes
that were said inside the hall before those who were crossing over to West
Berlin went through passport control here. There were several different
windows for passport control, one for visitors, one for ‘Inhabitants of
capitalist states’, one for inhabitants of West Berlin and a separate window
for diplomats. After going through the controls in the hall travellers were
routed through a series of corridors underneath the station to get to the
train to West Berlin (Klausmeier and Schmidt 2004:146). The trains that
ran in East Berlin were made completely separate from the train system in
West Berlin. The train and underground system, which before 1961 had
been one for the whole city of Berlin, was severed and separated in two
parts so successfully that by the fall of the wall in 1989 they functioned as
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