A Reuters report from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, June 9, 1995:

A group of German entrepreneurs wants to make the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie the focal points of a new Florida theme park, a spokesman said yesterday.

Berlin Wall Project Inc. is trying to persuade investors to put up $30 million for an amusement park that will give visitors "the feeling of being on the east side and the west side" of the Berlin Wall during the Cold War, said engineer Hans-Michael Pelzl, a member of the project.

The amusement park would include authentic East German army uniforms, weapons, watchtowers, jeeps and concrete from the Berlin Wall, materials the group began buying in 1990 after the wall came down, Pelzl said.

"We have a historical connection between Berlin and the United States," said Pelzl. "This was the area where the two big atomic nations played with their muscles." [sic]

He said the park would include events, shows, rides and theme restaurants.

One ride might involve visitors being confronted at a barbed-wire-topped wall by machine-gun-toting soldiers in authentic army uniforms. Another could involve a balloon ride over the wall, recreating the method used by some East German escapees.

"It would recreate the feelings of the Cold War," said Pelzl. "The park could be a symbol of the war ... and allow people who served to show their relatives, their grandkids what they experienced."

The theme park, to be called "Dei Mauer"—German for the wall—would be constructed near Fort Lauderdale and would employ up to 250 people, Pelzl said.

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