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Peter Bochmann Border Guard Collection

Major Peter Bochmann (b. 1940) was a career officer with the East German Border Guards, spending most of his active service at the border crossing (“Grenzübergangsstelle”) Friedrich/Zimmerstraße, directly opposite the Allied Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin.

With an amateur historian’s eye, Bochmann documented operations at the border through photographs and newspaper clippings — particularly during the Wende year of 1990, as duties at the checkpoint wound down. His collection includes primary and secondary literature, training materials, personal documents, and photographs, as well as phones, briefcases, lockers, radios, awards, and dishware from the guards’ room at the checkpoint. Earlier in his career, Bochmann worked to develop and refine personal identification techniques used by the passport control division (PKE), and hoped these methods might find commercial applications after Reunification.

Materials from the collection have been featured in the exhibitions Facing the Wall (2008–2017), surveillance-themed permanent collection displays (2017–2024), and Surveillance Countersurveillance (Fall 2024–Spring 2025). Bochmann also contributed twenty hours of oral history as part of the Historical Witness Project.

The cataloging and digitization of this collection was made possible by the support of Arcadia – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.

Showing search results 1-15 of 58
Photograph
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.001
Date Made: n.d.
Photograph
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.002
Date Made: n.d.
Photograph
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.003
Date Made: n.d.
Photograph
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.004
Date Made: July 19, 1984
Postenbereich 7
Postenbereich 7
Photograph
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.005
Date Made: n.d.
Photograph
Maker: E. Kasperski; Axel Springer Verlag; Ullstein GMBH
ID: 2017.015.006
Date Made: January 26, 1977
Photograph
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.007
Date Made: 1982 or 1987
Photograph
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.008
Date Made: August 1, 1984
Kontrollgigant
Kontrollgigant
Postcard
Maker: Ulrike Wolf
ID: 2017.015.009
Date Made: 1980-1990
Berlin: Das Loch in der Mauer
Berlin: Das Loch in der Mauer
Postcard
Maker: Danielewicz, Emanuela J.; Der elektrische Verlag
ID: 2017.015.010
Date Made: 1990
The Wall Map Berlin
The Wall Map Berlin
Map
Maker: Gerd Glanze
ID: 2017.015.011
Date Made: after 1996
Berlin-Document
Berlin-Document
Certificate
Maker: H. and E. Wendt; Druckerei Varioform GmbH
ID: 2017.015.012
Date Made: 1990
Es Geschah an der Mauer
Es Geschah an der Mauer
Book
Maker: Rainer Hildebrandt; Ernst Lemmer; Graphische Gesellschaft Grunewald GmbH
ID: 2017.015.013
Date Made: January 1968
Checkpoint Charlie
Checkpoint Charlie
Pamphlet
Maker: Ulrike Wolf; Alwin Nachtweh
ID: 2017.015.014
Date Made: after 1990
Photograph
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.015
Date Made: August 8, 1979
Showing search results 1-15 of 58

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