Mr. Kaufman's Short History of
CHECKPOINT CHARLIE

FOLLOWING THE UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER OF NAZI GERMANY on May 7, 1945, that ended World War II in Europe, relations between the three leading Western Allies (the United States, Great Britain and France) and the Soviet Union continued to deteriorate as Josef Stalin, the Soviet ruler, refused to relinquish any of the vast territory that the Soviet Red Army had captured during the War.

This mounting friction with the Soviet Union led to the Cold War (1947-1991). In 1961, the Berlin Wall was constructed by the East German government. Checkpoint Charlie was the most famous of the three passages located along the Wall that separated (Communist) East Berlin from (Democratic) West Berlin.

Kaufman's CHECKPOINT CHARLIE™ Guard House logo is an historically accurate* version of the original guard house that existed at the barrier in October 1961. At that time, the first stand-off between Soviet and American armor (tank) forces occurred, as captured in the famous photograph above, which was referred to as the Berlin Crisis.

*The actual sign read: U.S. ARMY CHECKPOINT

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