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Picture: Vehicle checkpoint Marienborn GDR border crossing » Filename: DdrMarienborn7822.jpg

The GDR border crossing on the A2 motorway between Hannover and Berlin existed from 1945 to 1990. It was expanded and fortified in the 1970s with new buildings including these ones. The complex has been preserved as a memorial to the division of Germany.

Here, cars from the West would line up and await being processed by the East German border guards. Drivers and passengers had to give in their passports which were carried along a covered conveyor belt into the admin huts where they were thoroughly checked. Those in transit to West Berlin would be given a transit visa for the journey along the motorway. At the other end, another vast checkpoint would process vehicles before they continued on to West Berlin. I passed through this checkpoint on many occasions during the 1980s.

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