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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 16-30 of 58
Dokumentation
Dokumentation
Document
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.016
Date Made: after August 8th, 1979
Photograph
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.017
Date Made: February 1990
Photograph
Maker: Unknown; Kodak
ID: 2017.015.018
Date Made: printed in December 2005
Photograph
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.019
Date Made: between 1945-1985
Photograph
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.020
Date Made: 1961 or after
And who will break the walls in the heads?
And who will break the walls in the heads?
Photograph
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.021
Date Made: after January 7, 1989
Zertifikat
Zertifikat
Certificate
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.022
Date Made: 1989
Aktion und Besonderheiten Grenzübergangstelle Fr./Zi.
Aktion und Besonderheiten Grenzübergangstelle Fr./Zi.
Binder
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.023
Date Made: after 1981
Spendenmarken der Deutsch-Sowjetischen Freundschaft
Spendenmarken der Deutsch-Sowjetischen Freundschaft
Stamp album
Maker: Gesellschaft für Deutsch-Sowjetische Freundschaft
ID: 2017.015.024
Date Made: 1975, 1978, and 1979
Berlin
Berlin
Postcard
Maker: Kunstverlag; Universa International S.A.
ID: 2017.015.025
Date Made: n.d.
Construction Processes Border Crossing Point and Transitional Border Crossing Point
Construction Processes Border Crossing Point and Transitional Border Crossing Point
Binder
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.026
Date Made: after 1986
The Year 1989 until the Fall of the Wall
The Year 1989 until the Fall of the Wall
Binder
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.027
Date Made: 1989-1999
The Year 1989 Bye Charlie
The Year 1989 Bye Charlie
Binder
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.028
Date Made: after 1989
Grenzeröffnung: Nachtrag Nov. - Dez. 1989
Grenzeröffnung: Nachtrag Nov. - Dez. 1989
Binder
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.029
Date Made: after 1989
Document; photograph; film negative
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.033
Date Made: 1983-1987
Showing search results 16-30 of 58

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