German Democratic Republic border system
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The GDR border system was formed by a series of 3-4 metre (12-15 foot) high chain-link fences, walls, armed guards, guard dogs, barbed wire, electric alarms, trenches, watchtowers and minefields that was in place from 1952 to 1990, and ran the entire 1381 km (858 mile) length of the border between East Germany (the German Democratic Republic, or GDR) and West Germany (the Federal Republic of Germany, or FRG). The more infamous Berlin Wall, which separated East and West Berlin, was merely part of the much longer "inner German border" or "German-German border".
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[edit] The Inner German Border
The border between the two German states was long regarded as the most likely invasion route from either east or west. Accordingly, it was the most heavily guarded section of the Iron Curtain, and was arguably the most militarised border anywhere in the world.
The route of the border between the three Western occupation zones and the Soviet Zone was laid down by the victorious powers after the Second World War, and did not change when the two German states were founded after 1949. It roughly matched the old state borders between Hanover and Prussia, Hesse and Anhalt, Hesse and Thuringia, and Bavaria. Continuing south, the border between Bavaria and Czechoslovakia was similarly fortified on the Czech side.
The GDR's official name for the border was the "state border between the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin". In the FRG, the term Zonengrenze (zone border) was also used. The Berlin Wall was officially termed the "anti-fascist protection rampart" in the GDR, but was widely known simply as "die Mauer" ("the Wall") on both sides of the border.
The status of the GDR borders with Poland and Czechoslovakia was nominally open, these countries being "fraternal socialist allies" and fellow Warsaw Pact members. In practice, however, residents leaving the GDR and Eastern bloc residents visiting it often faced tough controls.
[edit] History of the GDR-FRG border
Until 1952 the border existed only on paper, with free movement between the Western and Soviet occupation zones. From that date, however, the Soviets and East Germans undertook extensive work to close it. A no-man's land was cleared along the route and 11,000 people living near the area were moved away. Several towns and villages were split in two, with families often split by the fortification of the border. Barbed wire was laid down along the entire length of the border, and secondary and local roads leading to the border were ripped up in order to prevent civilians from approaching it.
Between 1949 and 1961 approximately 2.5 million people crossed from the GDR to the FRG via the still open border with West Berlin.[1] with a further 5,000 crossing the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989 [2]. Approximately 200,000 people crossed in the other direction. From 1961 the GDR border was strengthened further to prevent mass migration to the west, and the westward movement slowed to a trickle. East German paramilitary police guarded on the border. Soviet troops were stationed well back from the inter-German line and normally did not stand daily watch there. The maintenance and operation of the border was largely left to the East Germans, not least because the East German leadership was conscious that the continued viability of their state was at risk if uncontrolled emigration continued.
The border was actively guarded using a variety of often lethal methods. Mines were buried and watchtowers set up. Dogs patrolled the area and automatic firing devices pointing towards the GDR territory could be triggered by movement. The border guards stationed along the route had orders to stop anyone attempting to escape by shooting them.
Freedom of movement across the border was not totally prevented, but was extremely tightly controlled. Several autobahns and rail lines remained as viable means of travel. West German citizens were allowed to travel to the GDR, but faced movement restrictions and police surveillance while there. Military and government officials of the Western Allies on their way to and from West Berlin could cross the border by car and train under Soviet travel authorization, over and above the GDR's authority.
[edit] The Berlin Wall
main: Berlin Wall
The most famous part of the GDR border was the Berlin Wall, built on 13 August 1961, cutting off the three Western sectors of Berlin from East Berlin and the GDR. There were small-scale counterparts of the Berlin Wall at sections of the border near inhabited areas. One example was built in the town of Mödlareuth in Thuringia which, like Berlin, was split in half by the border (and as a result was nicknamed "little Berlin").
[edit] Escape attempts
East Germans' desire to escape the confines of their state led to a number of daring crossings of the border, at great personal risk to the escapees.
One of the more famous escape crossings was in September 1979 by hot air balloon. The Strelzyk and Wetzel families of Poessneck, in the GDR, built their own balloon, burner and basket, and converted a barometer into an altimeter. Although the Strelzyks were left alone to make the attempt, the first attempt, in June 1979, failed, and the two families, knowing the secret police would find both, made the second attempt together and succeeded. In 1981 their story was made into a movie, Night Crossing, by Walt Disney Pictures. After living in several places in West Germany and Switzerland, the Strelzyks relocated back to Poessneck in 1999.
[edit] Border deaths
The border defences claimed at least 80 victims on the eastern side of the border.
[edit] People killed while escaping the GDR
Several hundred people died while attempting to escape from the GDR, mostly civilians. The exact number of victims is difficult to calculate. The Berlin Public Prosecution Department reckons that about 270 'proven' deaths on the border were due to acts of violence by GDR border security guards, including deaths caused by mines and automatic firing devices. The Central Assessment Group for Governmental and Federational Crimes (German ZERV), however, has registered 421 suspected cases of killings by armed GDR border guards.
On 12 August 2003, the "13 August Association" published the number of victims of the GDR border guards as 1,008, but with a fairly wide-ranging definition of the term "victim". This figure includes, for example, victims who drowned in the Baltic Sea or died as a result of accidents; suicides after attempted escapes; even border soldiers shot by escapees and Germans killed escaping over other borders (to Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, etc.).
Some famous East German victims include Peter Fechter, Chris Gueffroy and Günter Litfin.
[edit] Deaths of West Germans
A few West Germans died on the border. One famous case is that of Michael Gartenschläger, a West German who protested against the use of lethal measures on the border. He highlighted the GDR's use of automatic firing devices by defusing two of them, but was killed by East German border guards in 1976 while trying to defuse a third.
[edit] Deaths of GDR border guards
Between 1949 and 1990, a total of 28 GDR border guards and soldiers were also killed. Nearly all of them died on the inter-German border, while one died on the border with Czechoslovakia. Another 29th soldier was killed before the GDR was founded. Of these 29 cases, eight died at the Berlin Wall. Most of the GDR border guards killed belonged to the Volkspolizei (People's Police Force) and the GDR border guards.
Apart from civilians fleeing the GDR, half of the remaining probable victims were citizens of West Berlin and West Germans or US soldiers, and about half were deserting GDR border guards or Volkspolizei soldiers. One was a deserting Soviet soldier. In the GDR, some of these soldiers killed were venerated as heroes; streets, children's camps, barracks and schools were named after them.
From today's point of view it is difficult to judge whether some of the cases really took place as described or whether some are simply propaganda. It is also unclear how many were cases of self-defence or even "friendly fire". Border clashes were always possible because the border defences were set back from the actual borderline, with the gap in between constituting a sort of no man's land. West German or US troops could thus be some distance to the west of the border defences but could still cross the borderline without being aware of it.
[edit] The border area today
The inner German border was opened on 9 November 1989 under the GDR Chairman of the State Council Egon Krenz. This sparked a chain of events which led to the reunification of the two German states on 3 October 1990. The border now no longer exists, but even today Germans still talk about the "wall in people’s heads" referring to conflicts between East and West Germans.
The vast majority of the border defences have been torn down, although a few stretches and isolated individual facilities such as watchtowers have been preserved for posterity. At Mödlareuth, parts of the former "death strip" that bisected the town have been preserved and integrated into an exhibition on the border zone. At Helmstedt, the former site of Checkpoint Alpha – the autobahn checkpoint passing from West Germany into East Germany – a Border Zone Museum (Zonengrenz-Museum) has been built around a preserved section of the border defences. Other than this, however, travellers can often not tell where the "border" ran, because most traffic routes have been connected or rebuilt seamlessly, obliterating all traces of former border facilities.
In recent years, parts of the old border and Wall strips have become hiking trails and nature preserves. Undeveloped for decades, the border area became a refuge for some animal and plant species endangered elsewhere in Europe. While there has been some speculation about landmines still being in place in the once fallow areas along the fences, no evidence and no casualties are known.
In September 2005, the European Parliament called for the former border area to become part of an "Iron Curtain trail" stretching 4,250 miles (6,800 km) from the Arctic Sea to the Black Sea along the Cold War border between the Western and Soviet blocs.
[edit] References
- ^ "Berlin Wall". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved on 2006-03-19.
- ^ "The Berlin Wall - Facts and Figures". "Official site of the capital of Germany". Retrieved on 2006-03-19.
[edit] External links
- An artists depiction of the kind of barriers used on the border
- Pictures of the former inner-German border
- Links to many sites with GDR border system pictures
- Information on the GDR border system (in German, but with good pictures)
- Zonengrenz-Museum Helmstedt
- GDR-BRD Border Information
- Allied military trains crossed the zonal border at Marienborn. Includes 1969 sound clip with guard dogs.
- A free book in English about a series of journeys along the remnants of the border in 2003
