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Picture: Preserved section of the inner German border with watchtower Hötensleben » Filename: DeHoetWall7825.jpg

At Hötensleben just inside the former territory of the GDR, a section of the border has been preserved for future generations. Hötensleben is situated around 16 km / 10 miles south of the former West German border town of Helmstedt, on the main A2 autobahn between Hannover and Berlin.

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We are just inside the outer wall standing on the 'death strip', a forbidden area for all but GDR border guards. Vehicle traps prevent any car from ramming the wall. Beyond the wall on the left is a further section of former GDR territory, then the border with West Germany, as it was until reunification in 1990. Though there is a wall at this point, most of the inner German border had a metal fence running along it. On the hilltop is a watchtower once manned by East German border guards. Their job was to prevent people from escaping across the border to the West. They had orders to shoot on sight anyone attempting to do so.

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