On June 16th, we took a trip to the former GDR border for our Expanded European Union class. A quick history lesson: after WWII, the four allied powers France, US, UK, and USSR (now Russia) divided Germany into 4 sections (and also divided Berlin, which was deep within the Soviet division). Germany was no longer allowed to have a military, not to mention it was a complete utter economic and political mess. The Third Reich- which was allegedly supposed to last 1,000 years didn't. Anyway, as the years went by, France and the UK had their own problems to worry about so the US became the major political influence over Germany. The former USSR didn't agree with the politics of the US, and thus began the Cold War era. Each country became a major superpower, and they also became really hostile towards each other (in the US, McCarthyism, red scare, etc). The USSR separated their side from the other zones in the allied areas until 1989 when the collapse of the USSR occurred. During this period of time of post WWII until 1989, Eastern German residents went through political oppression for the sake of an ideological government that just wasn't working out. East and West Germany was divided- the East wanted to keep its people in (although i've heard that originally the wall was built to keep westerners out, however the wall did the opposite).
Until now, I honestly thought the wall was just a wall. It wasn't, it was a two walls, and within these walls was a complex system of security that included barbed wire, land mines, trip wire that went off, in some areas there were dogs, and watch towers along the 2,000 km border every 500 meters (with 4 guards in them at all times, 24/7/365). It was absolutely terrible. Deutsche Welle has an excellent video about the wall:
We started out at a the Dömitz fortress about an hour and a half away from Lüneburg.
We went there because well, why not? It was used as a prison and also as a mental institution. Now it is a historical landmark.
My first fortress!
There was a museum on the fortress itself with historical artifacts from Germany. It had things from centuries ago, to even a room that was modeled after a coffee and spice shop. The fortress was cool- I even went into some underground tunnels. It was sort of creeped out while in them, so I didn't stay there very long (I went with a group of people- even then, I bet some crazy stuff possibly happened in those tunnels).
Canon balls- left as commemoratives.
After the fortress, we went to go have some delicious lunch at a place where they brewed their own flavored lemonade (it's bubbly lemonade) and beer.
Then, we headed off to the Grenzland museum (GDR museum) where it housed a lot of GDR relics and served as a memorial of a time where people had limited freedoms. The black-red-yellow column seen in the picture served as a border marker between the East and the West. Imagine living somewhere where you were probably spied on most of the time, and had to live in a hostile environment.
Finally, we went to visit the "town" of Stresow. In the 1950s, the GDR drove the people out of the town and proceeded to destroy it and then flood it. The reason why this was done was because the town was too close to the border, and it posed as a potential threat (perhaps a gateway to the West). The families were placed all across the GDR, as to not communicate or learn of each other. Today, it is part of a national forest and wildlife area. But it serves as a memorial to others.
The town of Stresow today.
After some time of reflection, we were taken to a watch tower, left over from the wall.
We had to be careful, because there was a potential of landmines still left out. No one has gotten hurt so far, but the remains resound strongly that it wasn't too far in the past that a wall existed between East and West Berlin.
The silver lining is perhaps that the area was converted into green space, a newfound freedom that everyone can experience.
Well, that's it for me. I'm off to Amsterdam this weekend, so that should be a lot of fun.
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