Stresow and Schnackenburg border memorial and museum

Stresow/Schnackenburg border memorial - darkometer rating : 4 - Comparatively minor border museums/memorials in Germany that commemorate the former " Iron Curtain " border separating the East ( GDR ) from the West ( FRG ) during the Cold War era. There's a small "Grenzlandmuseum", 'border land museum' on the former Western side in Schnackenburg in Lower Saxony, which was once one of the West's most isolated corners, hemmed in by the GDR-border on three sides, one of them the river Elbe. The museum has various artefacts relating to border security on both sides. (Opening times: in March and April from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays to Fridays and 1 to 4 p.m. at weekends, and between May and October from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and Sundays, and from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.) Stresow was the name of a village that was wiped off the map because it was located right on the border strip on the GDR side, now Saxony-Anhalt. In 1972 the inhabitants were forcibly moved and all houses demolished by 1974. Today a memorial stone commemorates the site of the lost village. In addition, there are various reconstructed border installations like fences, an observation bunker, and a patrol track, providing an approximation of an impression of what the border may have looked like back then. South-west of this, a hiking trail follows the course of the former border. You can make out the former mine strip, remains of a border crossing checkpoint, border marker poles and even another old watchtower. A map is available at the museum in Schnackenburg. Location: Schnackenburg is in the easternmost corner of the Wendland region of Lower Saxony, on the southern bank of the river Elbe. The nearest larger settlement is Wittenberge a few miles upstream on the northern bank (where there is a bridge – Schnackenburg itself only has a small ferry river crossing).