New Cold War exhibit opens at Checkpoint Charlie

BERLIN (AP) — Berlin is unveiling a new Cold War exhibition at the former Checkpoint Charlie border crossing — a step toward setting up a permanent museum about the standoff between East and West.

The “BlackBox Cold War” exhibition uses posters, newspapers, videos and other artifacts to narrate the conflict from Germany’s post-World War II division to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It opens Friday and is expected to remain for at least two years. Supporters hope to complete a larger, permanent museum at the site in 2015 or 2016.

Mayor Klaus Wowereit says the checkpoint — where U.S. and Soviet tanks faced off in 1961 — “is the only place worldwide where both superpowers directly faced each other with weapons and the danger of a hot war was palpable.”