Sculpture commemorates Cold War's Checkpoint Alpha

During the Cold War, Checkpoint Alpha was one of four US observation posts along the highly militarized East-West German border.

Today, instead of being home to a US regiment, Point Alpha is a memorial monument. Its visitors’ center hosts a museum and foundation that commemorates the decades of that border’s existence, from 1952 to 1990. Its mandate: to keep the memory of divided Germany alive.

This week, Point Alpha celebrated the opening of a sculpture installation that runs along a 1.5 kilometer (1 mile) long section of the old “death strip" along the border. Called “Weg der Hoffnung,” or Path of Hope, it uses the 14 Stations of the Cross – the events of Jesus’ final hours – as a metaphor for those who struggled for freedom and democracy in East Germany.