In the summer of 1983 I travelled to West Berlin by train. While we were sitting at the station in our train car waiting for our passports to be stamped, this young DDR Border Guard in a dark green uniform trimmed in silver, helmet, and an MPIKM on his shoulder, stood on the siding looking in our window. I asked my travel companion, “Gee I wonder what he’s thinking?” An older German woman sitting across from me said, in English, “He wishes he was you.” That moment changed my life. Freedom vs. totalitarian wasn’t abstract anymore. ‘1984’ was real.

I traveled in August 1988, as a young 18-year-old backpacker from Australia, from Frankfurt to Berlin by overnight train. As I arrived at the East German border, the guards came on the train and told me to move to another carriage that would continue to Berlin. My memory was that they were really rude and always shouting. I stayed at the youth hostel in Berlin and made the trip through Checkpoint Charlie for the day into East Berlin with a group of travelers from the hostel. Like everyone else, I was ripped off at the border by having to exchange West German Deutsche Marks for East German Deutsch Marks at a 1:1 exchange rate, which everyone knew was a joke. I have many memories of the trip into East Berlin, but one thing that has stuck in my mind was all the posters showing the glorious Soviet Army leaving Afghanistan and how they were victorious. West Berlin was so weird, with 'the wall' blocking many streets. I remember The Reichstag still being a burnt-out shell left after the end of the war, the Soviet memorial near the Brandenburg Gates being cordoned off by the police with guard dogs, and many VW transit vans parked near the wall with police in riot gear in the back. I did spend a good hour chatting with an MP from the British Army near one of the observation posts that you could look over the wall. Thank you for your video. Just thought I would like to share my memories.

I went to West Berlin via Transit from West Germany as a child. It was a summer vacation with my parents in July of 1987. It took a while to pass the border into East Germany. I remember the summer temperatures, the blue sky and the windscreen covered in smashed insects. The lightheaded magic mood you're in when the adventure just started. And occasionally seeing villages along the Transit-Autobahn. They were in bad shape. I was nine years old at the time, sitting in the back of the Ford Sierra my father bought the year before. I was told that the people of East Germany had to wait for many years until they got their Trabbi, the tiny old-fashioned cars I was now seeing all over the place. After a while, we took a break and stopped at a rest area along the Autobahn. My mother gave me a can of coke, the first sip felt great in the summer heat. That was the moment when I noticed another family, not very far away from us. They had a Trabbi and the two children of about my age were staring at me, with the Coke in my hand. I grew up in the reality of a divided country, it was kind of normal to me, because to me, it had always been that way. As I was told beforehand, it was strictly forbidden to talk to East Germans as that could get us and even more them, into big trouble, maybe even prison. So in that moment, it was impossible to share my Coca-Cola with other kids as I was used to back home. That was the moment I realised the cruelty of this separation. It felt so unjust to drink that can before their eyes. I could do nothing but stare back at them. There was just summer air between us, but also an insurmountable wall. I still wonder what became of them. I saw the Todezone (death zone) behind the Berlin Wall from a viewing platform that summer. The same wall that separated us kids. Two years later people were dancing on the Wall, tears of joy were on the news. I joined their dance in front of our TV. I forgot most of my childhood I guess, but among a few others, that Transit-moment sticks with me until today. It reminds me of the importance of freedom and that communism was, is and always will be: A very bad idea.

When I crossed the border between West and East Germany by train in 1978, a West German in the compartment looked out at the border guards and said, "The only thing that has changed is the color of their uniforms." He was referring to the fact that under the Nazis soldiers wore field grey while under the Soviets they wore olive drab.

In 1988, my mothers nephew and his wife come to us, in the Netherlands. Their children did not know it, so that they would not be telling it in their school. A week before they had to go home again, i asked if i could come with them. There was some talking between them and my parents and they said it would be possible. They arranged a passport, i still have it, and a visum. Then we went on the train towards the DDR. It was very interesting to go through that border area on the east side. I spend three weeks there with my family. We also went to a camping near Müritz. I the disco near my family's house, some youngsters could not believe a was from the west. I had no passport with me but then i talked some Dutch and then they believed me. On the way back in the train, where i had my own booked seat in a coupé, the border guards came in with mirrors on a stick to look under the seats and an other guards had a shepard dog with him. It was a very good holiday. We also went with a Trabant car to east Berlin and on my nephews MZ motorbike to Torgau, where the Sovjets and the Americans met in 1945. I also was in the DDR in 1977, 1983 and in July 1990. We always took bananas, metal car toys and fruit and panties to our family.

One of my uncles worked for the US National Security Agency and was stationed in Germany in the early 1960s, at a time when the very existence of the NSA was still a secret. Right before Christmas one year (1961?), he got on a train to visit a friend stationed at Helmstedt. Unfortunately, he fell asleep on the train and didn't wake up until he was several miles on the wrong side of the border. He got off the train at the next station and tried to buy a ticket back to Helmstedt, but got spotted by the VoPos and held for 12 hours before they let him go. He bluffed his way out by claiming to be a special education teacher in the U.S. dependent schools.

Great video. Remembering the travels with my parents from West Germany to "the zone" in the 80's because of family visits. The 2-3 hours border control at Helmstedt/Marienborn, the harassments of the "Vopos" on their wreched autobahn, the permanent smell of 2-stroke motors and brown coal and the bizarre feeling of being in a country where nearly everything looks grey and blurred.

As I grown up on the other side (Czechoslovakia) video like this takes me back to this strange age which I do not want to undergo anymore. I remember in my childhood to dream upon a W. German's toys catalogue. I knew it was not possible to get this toys, much better then I had, and I did understand it as something normal. Something fair. Because my teacher explained me that the toys are for our enemy only. Unfortunately it was not just a nightmare,....

Thank you for the trip down memory lane. I was assigned to US Forces Berlin from early ’88-summer ’92. I drove this route and passed through these checkpoints often. One of the highlights of my time in Berlin was traveling on your duty train - much better than ours. I still have a bottle “Royal Corps of Transportation” wine I purchased on the train. Good times. I returned to Berlin in 2017 for a short visit. So much has changed. Will always be among my favorite cities.

Grew up at the Berlin Wall on GDR Side on the Outskirts of Berlin. The French Sector was on the other Side. Thanks for sharing your perspective to a English speaking audience. I am sometimes worry People forget that it was a high military death machine and not just a "wall" with some colorful paintings, especially from the other side. In Berlin you actually could get really close at some points to the wall from GDR side. My Grandfather always feared the Stasi is coming immediately if we walk the today's famous East Side Gallery Sidewalk at Ostbahnhof. Nobody was walking close to the Wall even thought technical allowed.

I was a french soldier in west berlin on 1986 and had the chance to drive to west germany by this corridor. This video gives a great idea of the civilisation shock you felt during this single journey . Bravo.

Great video - thank you. I served at RAF Gutersloh from 80-84 and drove once along the military corridor. I did drive through ‘C’ and remember the ‘Do not speak to any East German police/military and if if looks like you are to, you are to get back into your car, lock it and demand the presence of a Soviet Officer’ briefing at the West Berlin Olympic Stadium. I was searching for a parking slot in the East and found one by an ornate building. Having unloaded 2 push chairs, 2 kids and a wife, I see a DDR Policeman making a beeline for us. I had 2 options: throw bodies and push chairs into the car, OR see what he wanted. I chose the latter! He saluted, I returned, and he politely told me I had parked in the slot reserved for judges at the court house but if I could be quick there was an open slot the other side of the building. I often chuckle what would had happened if I had taken the first and official option. We would have sat there for hours waiting for a Soviet Officer and he would have relayed the Policeman’s message with the add on that that slot was now no longer available. Keep it up.

I was stationed in Bavaria when the Iron Curtain fell... It was an amazing thing to experience. Sadly, it doesn't appear that our current leaders learned anything from the Cold War at all.

A fantastic video, brought back so many memories of being stationed there in the 1980s! Thanks. Loads of things happened to me whilst transiting, usually swapping crap with the Russian soldiers for their cap badges. One trip in a VW van whilst in uniform, me and my passenger noted a Russian HGV joining the autobahn in front, and sat in the back was a load of young Russian soldiers. They spotted us behind and immediately started giving us the finger and various angry hand gestures. My passenger had a copy of Escort magazine, and lifted it up, showed the front cover, then opened the middle to show the spread. The Russian went mad in the back gesturing us to throw it to them as we passed. As we passed we gave them the finger! Great times!

Born as a German in 1991 all of this was absolutely unimaginable for me. I simply can't wrap my head around the fact that my country was this deeply devided almost up until my birth. For a long time I couldn't understand the older generations talking about "die ossis" ("the eastern"=derogatory slang) in such a faul way. For me we are all the same, all from the same country. I thank you for your video as I now understand a bit more HOW devided my country was until not that long ago. Absolutely crazy for me but I understand a bit more now, how it could be that the eastern part of this country was so alien to my parents generation.

In 1987 I went to West Berlin by train as a 21 year old tourist, and crossed over on foot to East Berlin for a few hours. After the wall came down, in early 1990 I hitch-hiked across, got picked up by an East German teacher couple in a Trabant. Thanks for posting your video, it certainly brought back memories of a strange time.

That was a tense video. I actually felt a sense of relief when we got to checkpoint Bravo. I can imagine some drivers needing a drink when they got to Berlin or regretting that they didn’t fly instead. I’m glad my train trip to Berlin in August 1990 after the fall of the wall was much different. My mom and I flew from my hometown of New York to Frankfurt every summer from the seventies to the nineties to visit my Oma (grandma) who lived in a city near Frankfurt called Aschaffenburg. When I visited Berlin in 1990 with my parents, uncle and cousin, a small section of the wall was still standing. Thanks for posting the video.

Amazing! To think I walked through Checkpoint Charlie - by myself! - back in the summer of 1982. I was touring Europe with ISE, and after our tour of West Berlin, no one wanted to check out the eastern part of the city. I realized this was the chance of a lifetime, and I was NOT passing it up! Gives me chills...

Absolutely fascinating video. As someone born 10 years after the Iron Curtain fell, it's almost impossible to imagine such a brutally hard border cutting straight through the centre of Europe.

Just to add my observations! From Australia I with husband and children 11,9 and a 4yr old, travelled to West Berlin in 1973.. we had family in West Germany, West Berlin and East Germany.. (as named then) Went by train from Frankfurt to West Berlin, where we eventually stayed for 12 months. During this time we travelled through the East down to Dresden, staying two weeks in a town not far. The train service- well we did make it. Other trips around the East were by vehicle, much paperwork for every movement. Also travelled back out to West Germany by train to up near Hamburg.. An Aunt and cousins ❤️ Our two elder children attended school in Berlin, fantastic experience for them. The paperwork needed to travel East was very extensive, took months, in the end was pleased to fulfil this. Elder daughter went back for a family visit in 1981 and again in 1986. Life was much the same for family members in the East, at least for the West Berlin family, much better outcome. Biggest other problem was finding items to use the Ost Mark, giving to family as much as we could- they were resisting! Also had to have receipts. Other very noticeable observation was the air pollution, not good.

In autumn 1983, I spent a few days in West Berlin and one Sunday afternoon in East Berlin. The contrast between the two sides of the city was amazing. Crossing to the east through Checkpoint Charlie, we had to buy 10 East German marks. These looked like monopoly money. There was nothing to buy anyway, except a ticket for the tv tower and some badly-printed postcards. We were forbidden to bring back any change and had to donate it in a bulging charity box. In the west, things looked smart and affluent, with Mercedes cars. In the East, things looked shabby and the traffic, such as it was, consisted mainly of aged Trabants or similar, trailing clouds of exhaust smoke.

I travelled with my Dad through the corridor in 85. At the ACD two MP's asked if it was our first time and that we could follow them. They then proceeded to break the speed limit all the way to Bravo before turning round to return west. Leaving myself and my Dad to explain why we were significantly early. It was all a huge adventure for my 15 yr old self.

Hearing true stories about people who risked and lost their lives in the pursuit of freedom should make us appreciate ours.

I was an American soldier stationed in West Germany from 1987-1991. I never did visit Berlin, and I regret it greatly. I remember the night the wall came down vividly. Many years later in 2019 I finally visited Berlin, but I will always regret not visiting in the 80s.

This is amazing! It's wonderful to hear the POV of someone who actually was there!

An incredible video. Really appreciate the depth of the recreation intertwined with the older VHS footage. Its one of those critical parts of the Cold War era but I don't ever recall it being covered quite to this depth anywhere else. 10/10

I travelled through East Germany to Berlin and back to Hamburg in 1989 with Deutscher Reichsbahn. The whole journey was the most surreal ever experienced in my life. I also partook the city bus tour in East Berlin (as it's called-with strong emphasis-Hauptstadt der DDR - Capital City of German Democratic Republic). I felt humbled to have lived in the democracy and market capitalism...

Thanks so much for this. As a civilian when you saw those "Military" lanes, you always imagined the military had the red carpet rolled out for them - turns out it was in fact a total palaver!

Fascinating. As a young captain serving in BFG in 1977, I, accompanied by my wife, drove to and from Berlin for a week-long summer holiday, staying in Edinburgh House. Your video was very reminiscent of that trip though, if I recall correctly, we received our pre-briefing in our unit a day or so ahead of the journey, not in Helmstedt. I do remember that the travel document had to be perfect as even incorrect punctuation could lead to the Soviets rejecting it, hence the final check at Checkpoint Alpha. As for Checkpoint Charlie, many Berlin based personnel crossed into East Berlin, either in one of the official military patrols (that's another possible subject for you) or socially, for example going to the opera or dining. I believe that uniform was mandatory for military personnel, thus mess dress was acceptable. I walked into East Berlin on a Sunday afternoon in summer dress to find the city full of not only allied visitors but young Soviet conscripts on their day off. Crossing into the East was fine (no checks were required, unless a Soviet officer requested my ID) but walking back felt spooky, knowing that the armed East German border guards were watching my movement from behind me - a great disincentive to break into a trot. (Some East Germans had recently escaped by dressing in fake allied uniforms.)

I made this journey as a private citizen, with some friends in a car... but back in the mid 1970s. This video shows a greatly improved road in the late 1980s compared to my experience. In the 1970s the road surface was still the same concrete slab structure from when the road had first been built in the nazi era in the 1930s. I think the DDR/soviets had not bothered to spend any money on repairs because it was a road used by westerners in transit. My memory is the relentless rhythmic sound of the road as you drove over the slight gaps between each concrete section of the road. I also remember that in some places you had to divert across the median because the concrete was in a poor state. I think at the end of the 70s/ early 80s the West German Government was allowed to pay for the upgrade to a tarmac surface. My other memory is passing endless pine forests and going through no towns, all you could see was the soviet era tower blocks in the distance as we passed Magdeburg - it was rather a boring journey.

WOW, that takes me back. I was REME attached in Berlin 1988-91. Coming back from leave, the RMP in Helmstedt gave me a bollocking for not shaving before going through the corridor.! Ah good times..

This is fantastic, a great resource for future historians. You shuld save it somewhere. Although they might not believe it! Such a bizarre situation.

For those still interested, the National Army Museum in London has a exhibit dedicated to Anglo-GDR Relations called "foe to friend", where they give particular focus on this transit route, including a full copy of the transit pack on display for you to look at. Interesting to see the authority of the VoPo wasn't recognised in the 1980s, given the UK had by 1970s de facto recognition of the DDR after all but abandoning the Hallstein Doctrine. Great Video nonetheless!

This was absolutely fascinating! The attention to detail is extraordinary. I remember as an eight year old in the mid 60's, making the journey by train from London to Katowice with my Dad to visit his family. We did it 2-3 times during the 60's / 70's, until it became easier to fly. We always did the transit from West Berlin to East Berlin in the evening and the difference between the two cities was stark. I imagine how exotic and exciting this would have been through the wide eyes of an eight year old brought up in the quiet suburbs of South London!

What memories this brings back. We travelled that route just before reunification, three days before Checkpoint Charlie was taken down and put into the museum. FANTASTIC!!!

I was born in 1991 and my Dad was in the British Army stationed in Berlin. My Dad passed when I was a teen, but watching this made me remember I was a baby, going through these checks, at such a special time in history

14:36 The DDR's emblem didn't actually have a sickle but rather a COMPASS! The compass on the emblem represented the intelligentsia. The DDR's emblem was the only heraldic emblem of a European socialist state that didn't have a red star! And the emblem didn't even appear on the DDR flag until 1959 as before then, it was just the tricolor of today's German flag to symbolize illustrate the continuity between the Weimar Republic and this new German state. They also wanted reunification, but when it was made clear that the Soviets didn't want the DDR to join in, they added the emblem. East Germany and West Germany actually competed as one unified team at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Winter and Summer Olympics.

Things were different for civilians. The transit routes had picnic spots where both westerners and easterners would go, but they always sat at separate tables and pretended not to notice each other. I had visas for being in the GDR, and not just transiting, and so countless times I left the transit routes and got on regular GDR roads, and only once, in a small village, did a Volkspolizei officer wave me over to see my visa.

I was a, student in the USSR in the early eighties. I travelled twice a year to western Europe. I never had any problem crossing into west Berlin. The checks and verifications were similar at other border crossings in western Europe.

An interesting video. I suppose making this journey as military personnel would have been a different, more tense, experience than making the same journey as a civilian with so many different rules and regulations to follow and comply with. I never travelled to/from West Berlin by road or rail but recall doing so by air, seeing the frontier from the aircraft window and the requirement to descend to 6000 feet for the 'corridor' flight. I have crossed into East Berlin twice, once on foot via one of the checkpoints (Charlie I would assume) and once by S-bahn from Belin Zoo to Berlin Friedrichstrasse. I can recall seeing the soldiers with their rifles guarding the wall from the train. It's a long time ago now but I jest remember barbed wire and all these soldiers. I recall that for passport control you put your passport on a small shelf at a small curtained semi-circular window and a hand came up from inside and took it then you waited until it was returned, never seeing the passport control officer at all, who I assume was seated at a desk below the small curtained window. I also recall my disappointment that, unlike when you transited the DDR without visa by rail or road to/from West Berlin (as a normal civilian) or entered the DDR normally with a visa when passports were stamped, when you crossed from West Berlin to East Berlin without a visa on a day visit the DDR did not stamp the passport but instead issued you with a permit on a separate piece of paper. One thought that does come to mind is that I never found the frontier officials of Eastern European communist bloc countries to be difficult or unfriendly; although having said that I have heard stories from young West Germans of all sorts of intimate searches being carried out on them by DDR customs when crossing into East Germany or transiting to West Berlin. Based on my own personal experiences though, I would rather enter the DDR than the USA when it comes to the attitude of immigration and customs officers. You mention surveillance in the video. This reminds me of an unusual incident which occurred not in the DDR but in Bulgaria. This was in 1980. I worked in the UK for a student travel organisation at the time and decided to make a quick rail trip across Europe as far as Sofia, to broaden my knowledge of the European rail product, before flying back. When I arrived in Sofia I stayed overnight in one of the better hotels before flying home the next day. The following morning, in the hotel, I was downstairs in the hotel having coffee before leaving for the airport when a young man of about my own age who spoke perfect English but was definately a local came and sat down next to me and started a conversation asking many questions. It didn't alarm me at the time and I thought very little of it but on reflection I am pretty sure that he must have been some sort of state security or police operative.

Nice video. As a tourist in 1986 I traveled by train from Nurenburg to West Berlin on a Eurail Pass. Fascinating how the towns changed historically as we went from West Germany to East Germany. I remember having to show my American passport to East German Border Guards at the border. Even got to travel with a small tour group into east berlin through checkpoint charlie of all places. The wall was still in place then and you could not get even close to it, most rememerable for me was seeing all the old buildings in east berlin pock marked with bullet holes from WWII.

Bad haircuts and po*n style taches! Priceless Andy, simply priceless!!! I'd have added stone wash jeans, dodgy mullets and badly fitting leather jackets! ...or maybe that was just the GDR in general.

Outstanding video, thank you! In late 1981, I went from Braunschweig to West Berlin by Deutsche Bahn (West German) and Deutsche Reichsbahn (East German) railways. Solidarity in Poland had started the revolt in Gdansk and things were very tense in East Germany. The Deutsche Reichsbahn was still using steam engines. It felt like going back in time by a quarter of a century. East Germany was utterly depressing. I can't imagine being a citizen having survived the Nazi era only to be a gilted prisoner of the Soviets.

Interesting video! Around 1988, when I was just 6 years old, my parents took me for a day trip from Poland to West Berlin, to see the city, western shops etc. I remember that even though we travelled (by car) from the east (GDR/Poland border crossing in Frankfurt Oder/Słubice), we had to drive all the way around Berlin and enter West Berlin from the west. I don't remember the exact place we crossed between GDR and West Berlin, but it's quite likely it was Check Point Bravo.

A nice slow march down memory lane. First travelled the military train in ‘71 and also used the corridor a couple of times. Our cars had the old BFG numberplates. The train, when stopped in Magdeburg, was surrounded by female guards with machine pistols. Dogs were used to sweep under the carriages. Reichbahn steam trains were still very much in use. Checkpoint Charlie was also easy to go through, minimum group of 5, in no. 1 uniform, one of the party an SNCO. We were encouraged to visit the opera and concert halls just to keep our right of entry. Being Raf, I flew into Gatow many times, including on my first visit in a Hercules, we were buzzed by a Soviet Mig because of our position in the air corridor. I have been back a few times since the Wall opened and it remains my favourite city to visit.

Great video: the coincidence at 14:45 is incredible, as you pull into the former Communist border crossing, you're passed by Western Military equipment heading Eastwards.

I stayed in Celle for a few weeks in 1986 and palled around with Greenjackets. We visited the Innengrenze near Wolfsburg looked after by FRG police. One of my classmates thought it’d be funny to step over the line which caused the DDR goons in their tower to raise rifles and the cops by me to unlock their holsters. My pal was handheld back across by a cop and it was over. Great video, thanks

Fantastic insight into getting into Berlin during the bad old days. I’ve seen the transit instruction videos before but you’ve added so much context and really brought the process to life. Thank you for posting this.

I appreciate your service and thank you for the trip down memory lane. I attended the American high school in the American Sector of West Berlin from 1981 to 1985 while my father was stationed at Tempelhoff. I never got to make this trip. All my travels to West Germany and back (and they were many due to playing American football) I travelled at night by the military duty train. Great quality and information to your video! Looking forward to checking out your other videos focused on Berlin.

In 1973, when I was teaching German as a student in Lüneburg, I went to Berlin by (steam) train with a class of West German pupils. The contact with the East German guards on the train and during a visit to East Berlin via the Friedrichstrasse tube station made a big impression on me. Faceless men and zero fraternisation - not that we wanted to fraternise with them, we just wanted to get the formalities over. You were glad when they'd done with you. In case we should be asked where we were going, we were primed to say "To Berlin, Capital of the German Democratic Republic". In East Berlin you behaved impeccably, if you knew what was good for you.

Thank you for your service as a British soldier keeping us in the West safe and free. Thank you also for the care that you took in creating this video to document the harrowing journey through East Germany, which must have been some test of nerves! I visited Berlin in the comforts of a train in 1987 and was fascinated by the contrast of being in freedom at one moment and in a repressive state a moment later as we traveled out of Berlin, the sounds of John F. Kennedy's speech echoing in my head "Lasst sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.". It was quite an emotional journey for me. Without your service then, and others like you, so many people in Central Europe would not be enjoying freedom today (the same freedom that the people of Ukraine are fighting for now). Thank you!

Thanks so much for documenting this history so well. I was lucky enough to be in Berlin in November 1989. Absolutely incredible experience

Lived there for a few years, was there when the wall fell, left in 1992 as they were shutting down operations at RAF GATOW, got a movement order framed somewhere in the garage, happy days.

Great video. I travelled by civilian coach from Berlin to Düsseldorf along this route (in reverse) in 1983. It was pretty easy, uneventful and with a meal stop at a Raststätte. It is great to see what was going on under the bonnet.

This trip is amazing and I love that you show us the old instruction videos. They are so eerie and haunting, like something made from a dystopian movie or video game. You can feel the constant tension and real danger that its trying to help you avoid. Its important we remember these times and see them from todays view and from the past

So sad times, and so great they are over. Growing up in Braunschweig near Helmstedt was sad because one direction for travelling was closed. Visiting Berlin today and crossing the border without even noticing is so delightful.

I wrote this back in 2019, "It'll possibly be 30 years ago tonight, in the early hours of Sunday morning, that I was making good speed down the autobahn. The aroma of burnt two stroke oil was in the air, a fairly unusual smell, even back then. Next thing, a pair of dimly lit rear lights and a small car doing around 45mph was passed. This was the now infamous Trabant. The Berlin wall had fallen. We were in disbelief..." Very interesting video - I was based in Bergen Hohne when the wall came down.

On the borderline between Drewitz and Dreilinden "Checkpoint Bravo" the Stasi put iron rods into a tree so that they could climb up in order to take a look at what was going on at "Checkpoint Bravo".

Fantastic video. As an Australian who spent time in the armed forces I understand your way of thinking. Brings back a lot of memories.

That was a highly informative video! During the Cold War I spent 2 tours in Korea (80-81 & 85-86), including in the DMZ, and the wall came down while I was in Panama (86-90). Many of my military friends spent a tour or two in West Germany or West Berlin but I missed out. In 1994 I first set foot in Germany and it was nothing like the Cold War era. In 2003, 2019 and 2022 I went to Berlin and I still find it highly intriguing. I drove past “Bravo” but have never visited Alpha. Sadly, the Cold War means nothing to many youngsters because history is seldom stressed in many schools (including in Asia… many young adults are ignorant of Imperial Japanese atrocities in Korea or Philippines). Your video is a highly specialized piece of history but very well done. I checked “like” and subscribed. Keep up the outstanding work!

Even crossing a regular today’s border makes me nervous (like when I travel from France to the UK since brexit). But that video just creeps me out so much. It seems like the smallest mistake could result in serious consequences. I would have feel so anxious to do this journey. I’m very grateful I was born after that, in the EU, and that I mostly travel within the Schengen area where a border is just a line on the ground or a sign.

Thank you for your service in Germany during this time. Best regards from Potsdam.

This was really interesting. I never knew that we had to travel along that motorway to Berlin like that. I thought the only way was via plane. Also, I imagine the East German Police stopping you was all a wheeze - not just for a cash fine. Knowing you'd ask for a Soviet Officer which would take hours, you can guarantee they'd have microphones trained on your car trying to overhear any internal conversations going on, in the hope of trying to glean some information that might slip out in the boredom of a long wait.

7:13 "like utter dirt" - ouch. Thank you for this interesting video.

My visit to Berlin was at the half life of the wall. Beautiful city. I was in the US Air Force and went to Berlin with a base football team as the photographer.

Andy, this was fascinating to watch, great video. In 1981 I drove from Calais to Denmark via Hamburg. I took a detour to go to Lubeck from where it was possible to see the border area, with DDR (East German) watch towers. I've probably got a photo somewhere. Later on, in December 1989 I visited Berlin by air, I still recall the descent to 10,000 feet as we entered the Berlin military corridor whilst flying over East German airspace. Also remember being told not to take any maps of West Berlin with me into East Berlin, if stopped by the police to ask for the Russian military commander, the West Berlin U-Bahn running under East Berlin streets, signs advising as crossing borders between British, American and French military sectors, Frederichstrasse interchange which was in East Berlin with shops selling western goods very cheaply but only accessible by West Berlin travellers and finally, big signs in certain shops in 4 languages advising that certain goods could not be purchased by non DDR citizens (eg sports and baby products)! This was just after the wall had been opended to German travellers who could use Checkpoint Charlie as a crossing point, but us UK citizens were not permitted to do so.

I’ve watched this video several times. I’ve been to Berlin but after the Cold War. I grew up during the Cold War and find the border fascinating just the elaborate ways to secure it

Great video, very very interesting. As a Polish teen-ager I travelled on that Autobahn in the 1980s from Potsdam to Brandenburg and back. I remember I was really surprised to see such a good quality road in GDR. I was even more surprised, when we were overtaken by large US Army convoy. That time I had no clue there was something like "the corridor" over there. I also remember visiting Berlin and Brandenburg Gate, from GDR side of course. People were not allowed to get right to the Gate as it was in the closed off border zone. My dream to see West Berlin didn't come true that time... These days I travel on that motorway sometimes, I even visited Marienborn former border crossing not so long ago...

Thanks for this. I lived in Germany as an exchange student 1982-83. I remember visiting the Berlin wall near Helmstedt and not realizing that the wall covered the entire country! I visited East Germany twice while living there. Each time you were never sure: 1) if they would let you in or (2) if they would let you back out again. The guards were trained to give you a hard time.

i remember when i was a little kid in the 80s (I"m American) we used to drive between Italy and Norway because of my dad's job and would go through West Germany. At a rest stop once a young US soldier spent 30 minutes asking my dad for directions (paper maps!) and he was absolutely terrified he was accidentally going to hit the border to East Germany even though we were hundreds of kilometers away. scary times.

Hi Andy, I really enjoyed this post. So interesting and informative. I particularly liked the 1980's footage comparing Co;d War sites with today - particularly the removal of the T34 to be replaced with a pink truck. To have been a citizen of the DDR must have been desperate! My son just came back from Berlin ad was very enthusiastic about the trip. I'll show him this post to complete the experience. Thanks again!

Sir, this is extremely informative. It's discovering a piece of history i knew nothing about other than just hearing about it. Thank you.

Great report Andy as an ex soldier myself in 80s Germany I never did the trip but always wondered what it was like, watching the video I'm glad I never had to...after so many years it's hard to imagine what it was like in those cold war times if you didn't experience it yourself When the wall came down in November 89 I went through CP Charlie into the DDR to have a look around and was shocked how backward it all was.

In 1987 I drove to West Berlin with two friends. It caused no end of confusion at times with the RMP because we had a UK registered car and they would try and guide us down allied military paths at Helmstedt and again in Berlin but we were not UK military so we did deal with the East Germany border guards!

Growin up during the late 70s and 80s. I remember the last years of the cold war very well. This gave an in-depth perspective on how tense it really was between the west Allies and the Soviet Union traveling behind the iron curtain. Thank you.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your video. History should never be forgotten. You've earned yourself one more subscriber 👍🏻

Great video! US Army Würzburg 84-87 and Stuttgart 88-91. I spent a lot of time on the Coburg border. The video brought back a lot of memories.

I remember doing this run twice a year from 86-89 as we would convoy from Berlin to wildflicken and from Berlin to Graf......Was always exciting

Great video and a minor correction at 14:38: The GDR insignias were the hammer and compass.

It's very interesting. We used to live in Karlshorst, Berlin in the 80's - my father was stationed in East Berlin. As a kid I remember the wall, and it was very interesting to come back there to visit years later and go freely underneath the Brandenburg gate (which was off limits back then).

Wow. That must have taken awhile to produce! Brings back some hazy memories as I took that journey a couple of times back in '83 - '84 only I was a 19 year old punk a$$ airman in the US Air Force. I have not driven that route since reunification and have only been back to Berlin once. Flew that time. Thanks for putting these time capsules together. I have seen some of your earlier vids about NATO/BAOR, etc. from the 80's. History's biggest pissing match...at least at the time.

Thanks for an interesting video. As an American civilian in Germany in the 1970s I had to take a train to West Berlin and cross at Checkpoint Charlie, so I never had this experience, although I knew many who did. For reasons too complicated to explain here, I did on one trip have what was almost certainly a Stasi tail. I was young, in terrific shape and I walked that poor man all over East Berlin at a pace I’m sure exhausted him. Fun for me, less so for him!

I served in the US army from 81-89. I also have a BA in History. I took two years of German while in college so I could actually talk with the Germans I ran into. I talked with a bunch of locals when the USSR was collapsing and one thing I realized was despite all the "propaganda" put out in the states I don't think a single German I ran into had any idea who Ronald Reagan was. If you watch any American made documentary they all like to imply Reagan made a speech and then the wall came down!!! The reality was a lot simpler. In the east they wanted cokes and blue jeans and rock and roll music, the Warsaw pact forces which numbered over 4,000,000 men far outnumbered our small NATO force of some 250,000 US troops plus some 150,000 to 200,000 brits and Bundeswehr troops plus a handful of Benelux support troops. The French had pulled out of NATO at that time but said they would mobilize if the reds attacked. I was with the 8th Infantry Division, stationed in Baumholder. Our job was to move up and gold the Fulda Gap when the reds attacked. Because we knew we would not have enough men to stop them we were supposed to hold for 72 hours while reinforcements were flown over from the states to Britain then over to France. They would move up to the Rhein and wait for us to fall back and join them. The problem was we knew we could not stop the massive red army so after most of us were dead we (the Field Artillery) would open our safe get out our codes and remove the nuclear fuses. Up at Battalion HQ they kept the nuke rounds which they would pass out to whatever guns we still had left. We would screw in the fuses and fire off our nukes then try to run for the Rhein. I learned from lots of other US personell that they never knew this. We were sworn to secrecy but I'm 64 now so who cares. That's what stopped the reds. They went bankrupt just sitting there waiting for an order to attack, but since they weren't interested in occupying a nuclear waste they never attacked. The wall came down as a side effect of the collapse going on inside Russia. Maybe Gorbachev knew who Reagen was but most west Germans did not. I'd like for once to see a documentary that didn't rely on propaganda and actually told what was actually going on. I did see a British documentary years later that actually talked to east Germans and poles and some Russians that talked about what was motivating them to finally stand up to the KGB and border guards, and almost all said they were tired of not getting the clothes they wanted most mentioned blue jeans and some good old Rock and roll and an ice cold coke! Politicians speeches were not on their list!

Great video! We all thought back then that the Wall and the Warsaw Pact would survive for 100 years more. Things can change very quick and human institutions might not seem as stable as they present themselves.

That was one of the coolest videos on this subject that I've ever seen. Great job!

When I was nine, I made this trip with my father, who went to West Berlin on TDY (he was in the U.S. Army). I was already fascinated with Berlin and how/why there was a Wall around the city and so on so it was a big deal for me to make this trip. This was one of Those Moments that eventually drove me to get a history degree later on.

Absolutely brilliant description of the way things were a short while ago. I showed this to friends and family , it's a remarkable history lesson ,and by the way a great choice of the background music at the beginning.

What an amazingly interesting video. So many fictional stories turning into blockbuster movies could be made about this stretch. Thanks so much.

When I was in West Germany , I was not allowed to travel into East Germany , only allowed to fly to West Berlin

I love all the "then and now" comparisons, I've seen that military instructional video before but your new footage really grounds it.

Very well made video! I lived in Germany in the late 1980s as a child and hope to revisit in the next couple years. I got to experience the Fall of the Berlin Wall in person...an experience I'll never forget! My family lived near Giessen (Langgöns) and we just happened to be visiting Berlin when the Wall fell, a very lucky coincidence. My Father had a camcorder at the time and recorded our experience! Thanks again for your video!

Great video. Thanks for all the detail and diagrams. The instruction videos are a great insight to this period of history.

My parents would visit friends in the GDR regularly, they lived close to the border near Oebisfelde. I don't recall a lot of the travels, I was four years old when the wall came down, but I remember that my parents were on edge the entire time. They had to stay on the precise route they were allowed to travel along without the benefit of following the Autobahn until they arrived at Berlin. My grandma told me that my dad was once instructed to remove the entire back seat, which he obviously didn't know how to do and wasn't equipped to even if he knew how. I wonder if this was an active attempt to unsettle him or honest ignorance on behalf of the border guard.

I went on a train from hook of holland to poland. Quite a trip, no mans land between west and east berlin was something else.

Fascinating history! Thank you so much for taking the time to put this together!😀

Many thanks, Andy! I'm a Brit living in Berlin who very regularly drives back and forth along this route to visit parents-in-law in Landkreis Helmstedt. We have previously toured the site in Marienborn, and we also always love seeing the Berliner bear on arriving home. Amazing to see how things used to be. Wonderful footage, great detail!

Big thanks you, for keeping this piece of history alive. It´s always nice, to gt it from people, who actually experienced it.

Great video and it reminded me of the 3 visits I made to the DDR back in the 1980’s as an adventurous young woman on my motorbike. Like someone else mentioned everything in the DDR seemed grey and Trabants an Wartburgs belching out blue smoke from their rattly 2 stroke engines. I visited West an East Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Colditz and Meissen. In Berlin we stayed at the Palast Hotel. Amazingly interesting times.

What a great video! In 1985 I immigrated to the UK and joined the British Army as my father was from Scotland. I was training at Depot Lichfield/Whittington Barracks but was discharged 6 months later for medical reasons. Afterwards I got my International Youth Hostel Card, the book Hitchhikers Guide to Europe, and took the ferry across to Hamburg, Germany and started hitchhiking through Europe. I stood at the border of East Germany with a sign saying "West Berlin" and got a ride along the corridor into West Berlin. After touring around Berlin I did the same to get back to West Germany. I was picked up by a nice man named Jurgen Grossheim who upon arrival to West Germany bought me a beer and bratwurst prior to taking me to my hostel. What a fascinating time in history, and thanks for posting this!

What you have done here, is documenting an important piece history. Very well done!