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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 46-58 of 58
Document
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.049
Date Made: n.d.
Photo Documentation
Photo Documentation
Scrapbook
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.051
Date Made: n.d.
Photograph
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.052
Date Made: n.d.
Notes on the Identification Process
Notes on the Identification Process
Document
Maker: Peter Bochmann
ID: 2017.015.053
Date Made: n.d.
3.3.4 Das Ohr
3.3.4 Das Ohr
Document
Maker: Peter Bochmann; Unknown
ID: 2017.015.054
Date Made: n.d.
3.4 On a Few Features of the Identification of People of other racial groups
3.4 On a Few Features of the Identification of People of other racial groups
Document; photograph
Maker: Peter Bochmann; Unknown
ID: 2017.015.055
Date Made: n.d.
Document
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.056
Date Made: n.d.
Documentation of the question of identity of a French citizen on June 2, 1980
Documentation of the question of identity of a French citizen on June 2, 1980
Document
Maker: Peter Bochmann; Unknown
ID: 2017.015.057
Date Made: n.d.
Photo documentation of the question of identity of a citizen of Yugoslavia [Socialist Federalist Republic of Yugoslavia] on September 8, 1989, 6:35 PM at the Checkpoint Friedrich-Zimmerstraße with Staff Sergeant [Oberfeldwebel] Naumann
Photo documentation of the question of identity of a citizen of Yugoslavia [Socialist Federalist Republic of Yugoslavia] on September 8, 1989, 6:35 PM at the Checkpoint Friedrich-Zimmerstraße with Staff Sergeant [Oberfeldwebel] Naumann
Document
Maker: Peter Bochmann; Unknown
ID: 2017.015.058
Date Made: n.d.
Document
Maker: Peter Bochmann; Unknown
ID: 2017.015.059
Date Made: n.d.
Document
Maker: Peter Bochmann
ID: 2017.015.060
Date Made: n.d.
Arbeitsthema: Untersuchung der Merkmalsausprägungen der mongolieden Rassegruppen Hand des Merkmalvergleiches auf Lichtbildern und Foto aus dem Reiseverkehr an der Grenzübergangsstelle Friedrich-/Zimmerstraße
Arbeitsthema: Untersuchung der Merkmalsausprägungen der mongolieden Rassegruppen Hand des Merkmalvergleiches auf Lichtbildern und Foto aus dem Reiseverkehr an der Grenzübergangsstelle Friedrich-/Zimmerstraße
Document
Maker: Unknown
ID: 2017.015.061
Date Made: February 6, 1988
Document
Maker: Peter Bochmann
ID: 2017.015.062
Date Made: n.d.
Showing search results 46-58 of 58

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