Pastor Tracy Reads | Checkpoint Charlie: The Cold War, the Berlin Wall, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Iain MacGregor

May 5, 2025 | Pastor Tracy Troxel

Here is the backstory: After World War II, Berlin was a divided city that lay approximately 100 miles inside the Russian Soviet zone of occupation. Since 1946, Stalin had agreed to allow the Allies to supply West Berlin. Three hundred thousand Russian troops surrounded West Berlin. Then on June 24, 1948, Russia blockaded West Berlin from receiving supplies. Stalin had hoped that the Allies would abandon West Berlin and that all of Berlin would be under Soviet control. The United States and its allies responded by supplying West Berlin with a 300-day airlift. The Allies flew over 200,000 sorties into Tempelhof Air Base to keep West Berlin alive. Every 2 minutes another cargo plane would land to keep West Berlin free and functioning.

Over the next 12 years, many East Germans would emigrate to West Berlin to find freedom. On the night of August 12-13, 1961, the East German government began to erect a barbed wire wall to physically divide East and West Berlin. This wall was not designed to keep people out of East Berlin. It was designed to keep East Germans from leaving East Germany.

This sets up the dramatic confluence of strategic opposition between the East and the West. From 1961 until 1989 (when the Berlin Wall Fell), Russia and East Germany were clearly in a Cold War against the West and the Berlin Wall is the physical expression of that conflict. Checkpoint Charlie became the place where movement between East and West Berlin was managed and controlled.

Why read this book? The stories of high anxiety, attempted escapes, and the possibility of all-out nuclear war in this situation are multiplied. This reminds us that the world has always been a dangerous place. We also see the challenges and obstacles to freedom that regimes face throughout history. We can also be grateful that the actions of a number of leaders secured peace when war seemed inevitable. And we see once again the temporary nature of all countries and empires.