The Arbeitsgemeinschaft 13. August e.V. is located 80 metres from Checkpoint Charlie. This public initiative was founded by Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt – son of world-renowned art historian Dr. Hans Hildebrandt and Jewish painter Lily Hildebrandt – in 1962, and he continued to direct it until his death on 9 January 2004.

With the Mauermuseum – Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie and the Museum des weltweiten gewaltfreien Kampfes für Menschenrechte, Dr. Hildebrandt fought against the approval and acceptance of sad realities, against human rights violations in all of Eastern Europe. For 42 years!

Global division began and ended here at Checkpoint Charlie. Here, on 9 November 1989, a border that had not only divided Germany into two states but that also separated the European nations into eastern and western hemispheres, was opened. At no other location was the division between East and West more visible than at Checkpoint Charlie.

“The museum spectacularly documents the construction of the Wall and the injustice of the SED regime. It is more than a museum; as an internationally known institution of living confrontation with the history and present of human and civil rights abuses, it reminds its visitors to defend free democracy against its enemies everywhere and always.” – Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998.