Tränenpalast

This guide to the Tranenpalast in Berlin walks through the sealed border checkpoint built in 1962 at Friedrichstrasse station, where East Germans crossing west passed one by one through narrow inspection booths under a guard's watch behind glass. It traces what the building meant for families split mid-sentence, and the toll of partings that lasted seconds but echoed for years. Look at the booth beside you, and picture someone standing exactly there, waiting for a buzzer to decide everything.