London Banter - View Single Post - Complete (almost) Shutdown of Berlin Train System

Recliner[_2_]

"Lüko Willms" wrote in message

Am 07.01.2012 22:39, schrieb :
So, there was literally no border control on the West Berlin side
when crossing from East Berlin? Nobody even checking passports?

Well, for people crossing to the West at Bahnhof Friedrichstraße,
they would have to police all exits from S-Bahn stations, or have
their controls directly inside the Bahnhof Friedrichstraße. See e.g.
the Swiss border post at the exit from the platform at Basel
Badischer Bahnhof.
I don't know if Westberlin had ever been offered to set up such a
control post, but accepting it would have meant to openly discard
their legal fictions, which Herr Schwanke is always confusing with
reality.
I am not sure about the street crossings. I can't remember any
systematic controls when coming back from Berlin Hauptstadt into
Westberlin, but there might have been a police post, checking
everybody looking suspicious (dark complexion being a typical
incentive...). At the well know crossing Friedrichstraße (reserved
for non-German foreigners, maybe even for the occupation personnel)
there was a US-american military post. But I was, of course, not
allowed to cross there...

Is that Checkpoint Charlie? Incidentally, I see there's a mini version
of the old US border post still there, with actors posing as US guards,
who'll pose in pics with tourists for a fee. But there's no sign of the
old Soviet checkpoint.