We got back to Quedlinburg from Prague on Tuesday and Wednesday after class, Eric and I headed out, with Herr Schirmer to go see a remaining section of the Border between East and West Germany. Many people think only of the Berlin wall when they think of the communist era in Germany, but it was the entire country, not just Berlin, that was segmented.
There wasn’t a lot to see, it had mostly grown over, but to see is to have a tiny piece of the knowledge of what it would have been like to live during those times. There were two fences with a space between them that was a no man’s land. Check points all along it and towers spaced out giving full view to the border.
The fences themselves were constructed in such a way that you couldn’t deconstruct them from the east side. The bolts wouldn’t turn if you tried and the metal fencing couldn’t be cut with hand tools.
Worse yet, there were sensors on the lines of the border which sent a signal anytime one of them got touched. This signal was sent to a guard unit who in turn showed up to more than likely kill or imprison him/her. If a guard wasn’t dispatched, all along the fence, little machines were rigged to fire directed ammunition if the fence was touched. The communists covered their bases well.
Looking at it now, it is much like Langenstein. So many people died due to this separation and now it is a serene place of such amazing beauty.
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