More on Checkpoint Charlie

Today I returned to Checkpoint Charlie and visited the museum Rainer Hildebrandt founded in 1962 in an apartment on the West Berlin side. It's known as the Mauer (= Wall) Museum in German, but the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in English (how fitting...everyone wins).

According to its website, ''The aim was to document the ''best border security system in the world.'' '' (Sarcasm is intended; the quote is from a general in East Germany's armed forces) The museum basically heroizes the efforts of 'escape helpers' and 'resistance activists' who escorted East Berliners under the wall in tunnels and through checkpoints hidden in luggage or sewn into car seats.

It's replete with quotes from relevant figures, such as, Hildebrandt and peace activists including Gandhi. I found it a bit overwhelming by the time I'd reached the end; it's not wonderfully designed, and the curator has intentionally kept poorly translated elements of the original museum, but my main complaint is with its mission. At the very least, I'd like to raise a question: what does revering the students and activists who helped others over the wall encourage? The exhibit emphasizes what outstanding citizens the students who dug one tunnel became (Why? What role did living in West Germany play in this development?)

At one point the exhibit quotes an escort who actively made the claim that 8 of 10 people he 'helped' made it across. Are the odds worth it? More importantly, would we have considered their actions ethical then and should we now? (Should there be a difference?) Even if we assume the escorts do not profit from their actions, I am reluctant to consider these people the heroes of a united Germany.

In the Middle East, we questioned the ethics of people that help Palestinians into Kuwait (see Ghassan Khanfani's Men in the Sun). Today, considering the death rate of immigrants along the US-Mexico border, we naturally question the ethics of those that help them get across. While, I am not condemning the Berlin escorts, I am very reluctant to canonize these men and women.