4 ms·

I've seen so many pictures of the wall in my life, yet I can't remember seeing even one taken from the eastern side. Probably because it would have landed you i

I've seen so many pictures of the wall in my life, yet I can't remember seeing even one taken from the eastern side. Probably because it would have landed you in jail?

FabHK 9y ago
So, two things: 1. The wall was all around West Berlin, separating it from East Berlin and the rest of East Germany. 2. There was a whole wide border defence strip, known as the death strip. The wall was just the inner most ("western") part of it. From West Berlin you could walk right up to it (though sometimes there was a thin strip of East Berlin strictly speaking), but on the outer ("eastern") side there was the considerable "defence in depth" and guards and fences etc. Basically, if you ever stood in front of the wall on the "eastern" side, you were either a border guard or about to be shot. See pictures here: https://allymalinenko.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/wall001.jpg https://allymalinenko.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/wall001.jp... https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Bundesarchiv_Bild_B_145_Bild-P061246.jpg https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Bundesarchiv_Bild_B_145_... http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/berliner-mauer-der-geharkte-todesstreifen/1627392.html http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/berliner-mauer-der-geharkt... EDIT to add: 3. Similarly, there was a 1400 km border between East and West Germany, which was also heavily guarded. It also had a border defence strip on the eastern side, up to 5 km (3 miles) wide, which incidentally turned it into a habitat for endangered species. While this "innerdeutsche Grenze" is less unusual and thus less famous than the Berlin Wall, more people died trying to cross it than at the Wall. 4. The crossings at that border were the stuff of spy movies: East Germany actually installed secret gamma-ray guns to detect people concealed inside vehicles. If someone arose suspicion and tried to flee with their car, there were 6 ton barriers, "Kraftfahrzeugschnellsperren", that could be catapulted across the road using hydraulic rams.
- azag0 9y ago
  > though sometimes there was a thin strip of East Berlin strictly speaking There were also secret doors in the wall, and on several occasion people from the western part who ended up on this thin strip adjacent to the wall were "kidnapped" by the stasi to the east and later usually traded for eastern agents captured in the west.
  - blkhawk 9y ago
    bullshit. please don't spread retarded rumors.
    - yorwba 9y ago
      I did seem pretty outlandish to me, but it seems to have happened occasionally: https://www.welt.de/kultur/history/article13519471/Als-ein-weisser-Strich-die-Mauer-zum-Politikum-machte.html https://www.welt.de/kultur/history/article13519471/Als-ein-w... A less detailed article in English about the same event: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/nov/03/east-german-punks-berlin-wall-radical-art-stunt https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/nov/03/east-ge...
      - blkhawk 9y ago
        okay your google-fu seems to be stronger than mine. At least all elements mentioned in the original comment are there even the stasi-IM.
        azag0 9y ago
        I don't really remember where have I heard about this. It definitely wasn't an article online. It might have been the museum at Bernauer Str.
gus_massa 9y ago
Here is one (look for the caption "A section of no man's land, marking the border between East (Soviet sector) and West Berlin (American sector), April 1984. (AFP: Joel Robine)") http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-08/25-years-since-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall/5877218 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-08/25-years-since-the-fal...

I've seen so many pictures of the wall in my life, yet I can't remember seeing even one taken from the eastern side. Probably because it would have landed you in jail?

FabHK 9y ago

So, two things: 1. The wall was all around West Berlin, separating it from East Berlin and the rest of East Germany. 2. There was a whole wide border defence strip, known as the death strip. The wall was just the inner most ("western") part of it. From West Berlin you could walk right up to it (though sometimes there was a thin strip of East Berlin strictly speaking), but on the outer ("eastern") side there was the considerable "defence in depth" and guards and fences etc. Basically, if you ever stood in front of the wall on the "eastern" side, you were either a border guard or about to be shot. See pictures here: https://allymalinenko.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/wall001.jpg https://allymalinenko.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/wall001.jp... https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Bundesarchiv_Bild_B_145_Bild-P061246.jpg https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Bundesarchiv_Bild_B_145_... http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/berliner-mauer-der-geharkte-todesstreifen/1627392.html http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/berliner-mauer-der-geharkt... EDIT to add: 3. Similarly, there was a 1400 km border between East and West Germany, which was also heavily guarded. It also had a border defence strip on the eastern side, up to 5 km (3 miles) wide, which incidentally turned it into a habitat for endangered species. While this "innerdeutsche Grenze" is less unusual and thus less famous than the Berlin Wall, more people died trying to cross it than at the Wall. 4. The crossings at that border were the stuff of spy movies: East Germany actually installed secret gamma-ray guns to detect people concealed inside vehicles. If someone arose suspicion and tried to flee with their car, there were 6 ton barriers, "Kraftfahrzeugschnellsperren", that could be catapulted across the road using hydraulic rams.

azag0 9y ago
> though sometimes there was a thin strip of East Berlin strictly speaking There were also secret doors in the wall, and on several occasion people from the western part who ended up on this thin strip adjacent to the wall were "kidnapped" by the stasi to the east and later usually traded for eastern agents captured in the west.
- blkhawk 9y ago
  bullshit. please don't spread retarded rumors.
  - yorwba 9y ago
    I did seem pretty outlandish to me, but it seems to have happened occasionally: https://www.welt.de/kultur/history/article13519471/Als-ein-weisser-Strich-die-Mauer-zum-Politikum-machte.html https://www.welt.de/kultur/history/article13519471/Als-ein-w... A less detailed article in English about the same event: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/nov/03/east-german-punks-berlin-wall-radical-art-stunt https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/nov/03/east-ge...
    - blkhawk 9y ago
      okay your google-fu seems to be stronger than mine. At least all elements mentioned in the original comment are there even the stasi-IM.
      - azag0 9y ago
        I don't really remember where have I heard about this. It definitely wasn't an article online. It might have been the museum at Bernauer Str.

gus_massa 9y ago

Here is one (look for the caption "A section of no man's land, marking the border between East (Soviet sector) and West Berlin (American sector), April 1984. (AFP: Joel Robine)") http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-08/25-years-since-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall/5877218 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-08/25-years-since-the-fal...