There was one building straddling the East-West German border where
the upper floors were east and the lower were west. The East German
Army occupied the uppor floor, and a west German couple lived
downstairs. The West German couple eventually had to leave, because
the East Germans said that they couldn't move within their portion of
the ground floor into any room that was on the East German side. I
think they eventually tore down the part that was on the East's
territory. The border at that point was a result of the position of
US-Russian troops when the war ended. I think I have a photo of the
house.
LN
--- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "Karolis B." <kbajoraz@y...> wrote:
>
> >
> > This is a question that constantly teases me, too.
> > That is, how can buildings straddle international
> > borders? How do such situations come into existence?
> >
> > I can think of some explanations myself:
> >
> > - Lower level bordes get upgraded to international
> > borders through some process. There is of course no
> > real need to inhibit building across, say, a county
> > border.
>
> Even so, it's usually much lower than the national government that
> issues permits or designs parcels. Even if it was the national
> authority it wouldn't make a parcel across two or three counties. And
> newly moved borders make sure to follow existing parcel borders. It's
> relatively easy to just get two adjacent parcels on both sides. But
> what about building permit? You must design a full house, they won't
> issue you with a permit for a half-house. And in any case, whyt the
> heck would you want your house to be in two countries. It seems to me
> that misconseption about the border's location (ignorance) is the
> only thing that might lead to it. Spare also for stiff border
> treaties, which establish the border unmovably before checking out
> the existing situation in reality. Like RUUA, if RU was ever to agree
> to a treaty, I'm sure will go out and see wher ethe border falls and
> if any changes are needed.
>
> Mike, look, this is what I'm saying. The border in SU, like RUUA,
> might've been nothing in reality, but it sure was precise on the map!
> So the Ukranian SSR Ministry of Interior (MoI) Production Marketing
> Department (PMD) wants to open a butchery. A nomenclaturist from MoI
> PMD goes to Kharkiv Rayon Municipality and says, "look, I'm building
> a butchery in Larkiv (bordercity) on Lenin St.". Municipality clerk
> says "fine then, go to the MoI Land Resources Department (LRD) and
> get yourself a parcel". MoiPMD clerk goes to LRD clerk to get a
> parcel. There is no way the LRD ckerk will draw him up a birepublican
> parcel because he, a UkrSSR land resources specialist, only has
> UkrSSR maps to draw on and his authority is only in UkrSSR only, and
> not in RSFSR anyway!