Berlin: A city of spies

Checkpoint Charlie was arguably the most famous crossing point between East and West Berlin. It became the scene of a chilling standoff between US and Soviet forces in October 1961, which ended without a single shot fired. Years later, it was revealed that Karl-Heinz Kurras, a West Berlin police officer and undercover spy, had passed information about US troops to the Soviets at the time.

Glienicke Bridge was another legendary border crossing between East Germany and West Berlin. On several occasions, captured Soviet and Western spies were exchanged here, giving it its nickname "Bridge of Spies." A 2015 Steven Spielberg movie of the same name retells this fascinating history.

East Germany's notorious spy and surveillance agency, the State Security Ministry, colloquially known as the Stasi, was housed in a nondescript building in East Berlin. Today, the former spy headquarters is open to visitors, with many offices and conference rooms preserved in, or restored to, their original state — including East German spy chief Erich Mielke's phones (pictured).

Many people who fled East Germany found shelter at West Berlin's Marienfelde Refugee Center. Over the decades, the center took in some 1.3 million refugees. Arrivals wishing to stay were screened by Allied intelligence services who wanted to learn potential secrets about East Germany and the Soviet Union.

Perched on a mountain of World War II rubble, the former Teufelsberg listening post is worth a visit. Located in Berlin's verdant Grunewald district, the site was built in the 1960s by the US National Security Agency (NSA) to spy on the Eastern bloc. Today, visitors can take tours of the eerie ruins.

The Allied Museum is located in Berlin's Zehlendorf district, in what was once the American sector. Free to visit, it recounts the tense Cold War era from the perspective of the Western Allies, i.e. the US, France and Britain. One highlight is a section of a spy tunnel secretly built by the Americans and British to tap into Soviet communications.

You'll find the German spy museum situated near Potsdamer Platz, where the Berlin wall once split the city in two. It showcases a wide array of fascinating espionage gadgets used throughout the ages up until the recent past. It also shines light on Berlin's legacy as a spy city. Featuring many interactive exhibits, the museum is a great place for kids and grown-ups alike.

In 2019, the newly built headquarters of Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), was inaugurated in central Berlin. The imposing complex houses some 3,000 staffers tasked with gathering political, economic and military intelligence about foreign targets. Surprisingly, and despite all this secrecy, the BND headquarters has a visitor center.