[CPProt.net] Berlin Demolition Crew Dismantles Checkpoint Charlie Memorial

[Ton Cremers]

Berlin Demolition Crew Dismantles Checkpoint Charlie Memorial 

July 5, 2005 (Bloomberg) -- A demolition crew began taking apart a memorial
at Checkpoint Charlie, one of Berlin's most visited tourist sites, after the
bank that owns the land sued to remove the field of black crosses
commemorating each of those who died trying to escape East Germany. 

Working in yellow waterproof coats to ward off pouring rain, the crew took
down the 1,065 crosses and removed, chunk by chunk, the part of the Berlin
Wall that had been rebuilt at the site. 

The owner of the site, BAG Bankaktiengesellschaft Hamm, says that the
memorial is illegal and is preventing the bank from selling the land.
Alexandra Hildebrandt, widow of the founder of the privately owned Wall
Museum at Checkpoint Charlie and the manager of the memorial, campaigned to
keep it, supported by Berlin's opposition Christian Democrats and groups of
victims of the former East German government. 

``People come here from all over the world,'' said Torsten Kurschus,
spokesman for U.S. Republicans Abroad in the eastern German state of
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, who was collecting signatures late yesterday to
protest at the decision to demolish the memorial. ``If things had gone wrong
here, we might have found ourselves in a Third World War. Checkpoint Charlie
is an international symbol for freedom.'' 

Checkpoint Charlie was erected by U.S. forces in 1961 as a crossing point
for foreigners to the Soviet-controlled east. In October that year, it was
where Soviet and U.S. tanks, fully loaded and with orders to return any
fire, faced off at a distance of about 100 yards for several hours. 

Wrong Site 

Berlin's city government, comprising Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social
Democrats and the Party of Democratic Socialism, successor to the East
German Communists, backed the decision to demolish the memorial, arguing
that Checkpoint Charlie is the wrong place to honor victims of the East
German regime. 

Hildebrandt said a last-ditch attempt to raise the 36 million euros ($43
million) that BAG Bankaktiengesellschaft demanded for the land failed when
the bank yesterday rejected her offer because it came too late. 

Police said demonstrators left the site quietly earlier today as the
demolition crews arrived. Some had chained themselves to the crosses in
protest. 

``People left of their own accord,'' said Michael Maasz, a spokesman for the
Berlin police. ``It was very calm. No arrests.'' 



To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Hickley at  chickley at bloomberg.net.