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East Germany. The inner German border (German: innerdeutsche Grenze or deutsch–deutsche Grenze; initially also Zonengrenze) was the frontier between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990.
The relationship between the East and West German border guards and officials was frosty. As a Bayerische Grenzpolizei report of 1968 noted, "the conduct of the Soviet zone [i.e. East German] border troops continued unfriendly and uncooperative. Officers and officials only sought contact to obtain information about refugees or to influence the ...
Border length between West Berlin and East Germany: 111.9 km (69.5 mi) Border length between West and East Berlin: 43.1 km (26.8 mi) Border length through residential areas in East Berlin: 37 km (23 mi) Concrete segment of wall height: 3.6 m (11.8 ft) Concrete segment of wall length: 106 km (66 mi) Wire mesh fencing: 66.5 km (41.3 mi)
A further 2,087 prisoners were released to the West under an amnesty in 1972. Another 215,000 people, including 2,000 children cut off from their parents, were allowed to leave East Germany to rejoin their families. In exchange, West Germany paid over 3.4 billion DM – nearly $2.3 billion at 1990 prices – in goods and hard currency. [38]
Most travel routes from West Germany to East Germany and Poland also used this crossing. The border crossing existed from 1945 to 1990 and was situated near the East German village of Marienborn at the edge of the Lappwald. The crossing interrupted the Bundesautobahn 2 (A 2) between the junctions Helmstedt -Ost and Ostingersleben.
The inner German border was a complex system of interlocking fortifications and security zones 1,381 kilometres (858 mi) long and several kilometres deep, running from the Baltic Sea to Czechoslovakia. The outer fences and walls were the most familiar and visible aspect of the system for Western visitors to the border zone, but they were merely ...
The development of the inner German border took place in a number of stages between 1945 and the mid-1980s. After its establishment in 1945 as the dividing line between the Western and Soviet occupation zones of Germany, in 1949 the inner German border became the frontier between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany).
In anticipation of 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, a handful of architectural marvels tell the story of the side of the wall that was a Soviet satellite state for 40 years