I have a beautiful little book called '"Freie Stadt" zwischen
Stacheldraht?', published in 1959 by the Federal Ministry of Joint-
German Affairs (Bundesministerium fuer gesamtdeutsche Fragen). Maybe
you can still get it in a good second hand book shop. It has 54 very
intriguing pictures of the West Berlin border, before the Berlin wall
was built. For example, there is the border on the road towards
Steinstuecken, when it was still an enclave. Three signs are standing
there in that picture: 1) You are leaving the American sector/Sie
verlassen den amerikanischen Sektor, 2) Zum Ortsteil Steinstuecken
Zugang nur mit besonderer Genehmigung (to city quarter Steinstuecken
access only with special permission), 3) Hundesperre (Guarded with
dogs). Another telling one is of the Leuschner Damm/corner of
Bethanienstrasse: The street and pavements belong to East Berlin, the
front gardens and houses on one side, though, are in West Berlin.
Very awkward if you want to leave your house. Arrests were frequently
made, and so they made another pavement inside of the front gardens
(which got smaller that way), just in order for the West Berliners to
get in/out of their houses without getting nicked.
The astonishing part of it all is that sometimes the border is fenced
off (barbed wire), but sometimes there is no barrier at all! Still,
when you wandered off to the other side (a mistake quickly made), you
could get arrested. There are also signs at S-bahn stations with
texts like "Attention! S-bahn passengers, warn your fellow travelers
(especially sleeping ones) before you get off the train, because they
risk being arrested if they travel further".
Peter S.
--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., "Doug Murray" <dmurray@s...> wrote:
> Just found the book "All Along the Wall and Watchtowers" by Oliver
August. It's a road trip journal along the old intra-German border
in 1999.
> It looks interesting.
>
> Can anyone suggest similar books on the old Iron Curtain?
>
> Doug
>
> --
> Shoot like a pro? Now sell like a pro!
> www.stockphotosonline.com
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: peter.smaardijk@a...
> To: BoundaryPoint@y...
> Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2001 10:46 AM
> Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Re: search for germany benelux river
condos advances
>
>
> --- In BoundaryPoint@y..., peter.smaardijk@a... wrote:
> > It looks like you're right. I have a 1:20k map here of the
Vianden
> > area, and the points where the border leaves the river Our are
at
> > boundary marker 47 (north of Vianden) and boundary marker 19
(south
> of
> > Vianden). These boundary markers are likely to be pairs, one on
each
> > bank. Moreover, because of the large width of the river north of
> > Vianden (it is the Bassin Inferieur lake formed by the river
dam at
> > Vianden), the boundaries are clearly depicted as following both
> banks,
> > thus leaving the condominium in the middle. I find it strange
> > (although understandable) that the border obviously changed,
because
> > the lake certainly wasn't there in 1815, and the borders are
> following
> > the lake shore lines. This is unlike the US example (I believe
it
> was
> > in Tennessee) mentioned in this group a couple of days ago.
> Normally,
> > a boundary stays the same, even if a river changes its course,
> unless
> > a new boundary is negotiated. Perhaps that's what has been
happening
> > in Vianden.
>
> ..... this new border agreement is most probably that of 1984, as
> reported by Peter H. way back in msg. 1263!
>
> Peter S.
>
>
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