Inner-Germany Border Museum

The most powerful reminder of what happened in East Germany can be found in little museums like this one that are scattered across the once fortified Inner-Germany border.

Here at the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum in Mödlareuth, through concrete and barbed wire, the reality of a divided Germany (and a divided world) becomes much more substantive. It goes from being something far away and unreal that was only studied in school to something very concrete as you wander among the wall and abandoned towers where armed guards spent cold nights waiting to shoot any of their wayward countrymen who wanted to escape this "Socialist Paradise."

Eleven years ago people were being shot at and arrested for trying to illegally cross the Inner-German border. Now you can step through a small steel door in the wall, walk twenty feet down an embankment and hop the small creek that served as the border between East and West Germany for forty years. Its strange how quickly and greatly things can change.

Mödlareuth is a very small town that found itself divided between conquering armies after WWII. The border between the American and Soviet section ran right through the town. For the first several years after the division passage was still possible. But as more and more of East Germany's best and brightest left for the west, barriers went up along the Inner-German Border. Starting with barbwire and wooden fences, they became more secure with the creation of a forbidden zone controlled by the East German Border Guards. From the Baltic coast to the Czech border, an area several kilometers wide was sectioned off. Anyone living within this zone was given a special pass and only those with such passes were allowed near the border. On the far western side of the zone ran the actual wall. It was about thirteen feet high and made out of concrete when it ran through populated areas. The majority of the wall ran through the countryside and was made out of a heavy steel mesh (almost steel grating) and topped by barbed wire. Watchtowers were positioned at strategic locations along the wall. A road ran the length of the wall for maintenance and security patrols. On the other side of the wall the land was cleared of trees and planted with mines. Automatic firing machine guns and automatic search lights provided additional deterrent. This swath of land was several hundred meters wide. On the eastern edge of the forbidden zone was another fence topped with barbwire.

Viewing the concrete wall and all the different mechanisms that were used to prevent escape, makes you realize the absurdity of the former border and even that of the cold war itself. Huge amounts of resources went towards building and maintaining a border that the entire length of the country. A whole army was mobilized for almost thirty years to guard it. All of this was done at a time when East Germany still hadn't overcome the housing shortage created by WWII and still couldn't produce enough basic consumer goods to satisfy demand. And what did they have to show for it in the end? A disenchanted populace and a bad international reputation. I guess that the wall was one of the many follies of communism. It all seems nonsensical and very wasteful.

Getting to Mödlareuth is quite an undertaking. You won't find it on any map (its too small). Töpen is the nearest town and it is small itself. The best way of locating it is finding where the A9 and A72 Autobahns meet. It is on Route 2 north of the A72. Signs point you to it once you get to Töpen. There is a small indoor museum and then the outdoor part contains all of the wall and various wall related exhibits. There is also an old Soviet tank and helicopter in the museum.

If you drive down the road that goes through Mödlareuth away from the town for about two kilometers, on the right you will see an old Soviet (not East German Border Guard) barracks. Soviet troops were stationed there to counter American troops who were just across the border. The barracks did not look nearly as nice or substantial as the ones on American bases. It appeared to be covered with asbestos or tar paper shingles for siding. Ironically, now the former barracks is used to house asylum seekers from the former Soviet Union. The oppressed are now giving sanctuary to their oppressors. The inhabitants of the old barracks weren't keen on me photographing them or their living quarters, so I don't have any photos of the barracks.