Hötensleben border memorial

Hötensleben border memorial - darkometer rating : 7 - The largest preserved stretch of the former border between East Germany ( GDR ) and West Germany ( FRG ); here it even has a form very much reminiscent of the Berlin Wall , better than anything in Berlin itself, and as such is one of the most significant monuments commemorating the Iron Curtain anywhere in the world! > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: cf. other border museums, esp. Mödlareuth and Schifflersgrund , as well as Marienborn and Berlin Wall . What there is to see: of all the remains or reconstructed sections of the former GDR border in Germany , the border "memorial" at Hötensleben is the most impressive, in as much as it is the most complete actual stretch of that border anywhere. The full array of the typical GDR border fortifications has been preserved almost in its entirety here – and a good stretch of it too, some 400 yards (350m) in total length and over 15 acres in area. Since here the border went directly past a village, it was built not just with fences – as in the open countryside – but in the form of the Berlin Wall . And it's in fact the complete system: with front border wall facing the actual border with the West, vehicle blocks, sand strips, patrol track, wide open area (for free shooting space with no cover anywhere), lamp posts, signalling fence and inner wall, i.e. facing the East. Two watchtowers, one a border guard command post overlooking the whole complex, the other a shortened, smaller observation tower, complement the whole ensemble. Today, the road from Schöningen to Hötensleben, whose continuation is the main thoroughfare of the village, cuts through the former border strip.