page_title: Helmstedt–Marienborn border crossing
section_title: First checkpoints
hierarchical_section_title: Helmstedt–Marienborn border crossing / History / First checkpoints
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Aufhebung der Verkehrsbeschränkungen in der Nacht vom 11. zum 12. Mai 1949, 0.01 Uhr, an der Übergangsstelle Helmstedt-Marienborn. Übergangsstelle an der Autobahn Helmstedt-Marienborn von der sowjetischen Seite aus gesehen. Aufn.: Illus/Heilig 3248-49 12.5.49
context_page_description: The Border checkpoint Helmstedt–Marienborn, named Grenzübergangsstelle Marienborn by the German Democratic Republic, was the largest and most important border crossing on the Inner German border during the division of Germany. Due to its geographical location, allowing for the shortest land route between West Germany and West Berlin, most transit traffic to and from West Berlin used the Helmstedt-Marienborn crossing. Most travel routes from West Germany to East Germany and Poland also used this crossing. The border crossing existed from 1945 to 1990 and was situated near the East German village of Marienborn at the edge of the Lappwald. The crossing interrupted the Bundesautobahn 2 between the junctions Helmstedt-Ost and Ostingersleben.
context_section_description: A checkpoint was established on the site on 1 July 1945, which was on the demarcation line between the British and Soviet occupation zones. Its scope included the interzonal railway traffic as well as the motor vehicle traffic on the Reichsautobahn between Hanover and Berlin. The checkpoint buildings were located directly on the zones' border, and consisted of little more than temporary wooden buildings.
  The most important inner-German checkpoint, the Autobahn crossing at Helmstedt was named Alpha by the Western Allies. Its counterpart in the Berlin southern borough of Dreilinden was named Bravo. The connection between these checkpoints gained its importance from being the shortest connection between the western zones and Berlin, at 170 km (110 miles). During the Berlin Blockade, which endured from June 1948 to May 1949, the Soviet checkpoint was closed.
  From 1950 onwards, the East German Grenzpolizei (later the Grenztruppen der DDR) performed the border control on the eastern side of the checkpoint, with the exception of the Soviet military, which escorted Allied military traffic to and from West Berlin. Due to the increasing tensions between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the border crossing was expanded extensively and security was increased during the following years. However, the original checkpoint was eventually regarded too unsafe to operate efficiently.
caption: Helmstedt–Marienborn from the Soviet Occupation Zone in 1949
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