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Picture: Marienborn GDR border checkpoint tower » Filename: DdrMarienbornC7822.jpg

The main observation tower at the former Marienborn border checkpoint on the Hannover to Berlin motorway (A2 autobahn). This site is now the Memorial to Divided Germany or Gedenkstätte Deutsche Teilung.

Inside this tower, the Kommandant had a bird's eye view over the entire complex, which stood next to the autobahn around 1 mile (1.5km) inside the territory of the GDR. Millions of cars, trucks and other traffic were processed here on their way into or out of the the GDR. Citizens from western countries could generally pass in either direction, but nearly all those living on the eastern side were forbidden to go anywhere near this checkpoint, let alone pass through into the West. The restrictions ended in late 1989, and today the former Iron Curtain is an invisible line within unified Germany and the European Union.

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