Checkpoint Charlie (or "Checkpoint C") was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War.

The Soviet Union prompted the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961 to stem the flow of Eastern Bloc emigration westward through what had become a "loophole" in the Soviet border system, preventing escape over the city sector border from East Berlin to West Berlin. Checkpoint Charlie became a symbol of the Cold War, representing the separation of east and west, and—for some East Germans—a gateway to freedom. Soviet and American tanks briefly faced off at the location during the Berlin Crisis of 1961.

[Wikipedia contributors, 'Checkpoint Charlie', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 21 February 2011, 14:43 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Checkpoint_Charlie&oldid=415136311> [accessed 25 February 2011] under CC-BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode]