Rainer Hildebrandt was a German anti-communist resistance fighter, historian and founder of the legendary Checkpoint Charlie Museum

Checkpoint Charlie Museum

The Checkpoint Charlie Museum is a museum in Berlin. It is named after the famous crossing point on the Berlin Wall, and was created to document the so-called "best border security system in the world"...

. He was involved in the resistance to the communist regime of the Soviet occupation zone since the 1940s, as a member of the Kampfgruppe gegen Unmenschlichkeit

Kampfgruppe gegen Unmenschlichkeit

The Kampfgruppe gegen Unmenschlichkeit was a German anti-communist resistance group based in West Berlin. It was founded in 1948 by Rainer Hildebrandt, Günther Birkenfeld and Ernst Benda and existed until 1959. Rainer Hildebrandt would a few years later establish the legendary Checkpoint Charlie...

. The resistance group received financial help from the Americans.

He was married to Alexandra Hildebrandt

Alexandra Hildebrandt

Alexandra Hildebrandt is a Ukrainian artist of German descent, as well as co-founder and current Director of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and the chair of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft 13. August Association...

 since 1995.

Publications

• Rainer Hildebrandt: Ein tragischer Auftakt zur deutschen Teilung und zur Mauer (Neuauflage der 1948 erstmals erschienenen Publikation * … die besten Köpfe, die man henkt', ergänzt durch zahlreiche Fotos und Originalunterlagen); Verlag Arbeitsgemeinschaft 13. August: ISBN 978-3-922484-48-6
• Als die Fesseln fielen … Neun Schicksale in einem Aufstand
• Von Gandhi bis Walesa – Gewaltfreier Kampf für Menschenrechte
• Die Mauer spricht
• Es geschah an der Mauer

Literature

• Alexandra Hildebrandt: Ein Mensch Rainer Hildebrandt – Begegnungen Verl. Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-922484-41-7

External links

• Christine Richter: „Der Freiheitskämpfer“ Nachruf auf Rainer Hildebrandt in der Berliner Zeitung