page_title: Helmstedt–Marienborn border crossing
section_title: Expansion in the 1970s
hierarchical_section_title: Helmstedt–Marienborn border crossing / History / Expansion in the 1970s
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Skulptur „La voûte des mains“ („Die Wölbung der Hände“; Künstler: José Castell) an der ehemaligen innerdeutschen Grenze bei Helmstedt an der Autobahn A2 English: sculpture "La voûte des mains" ("vaulted hands"; artist: José Castell) at the former border at the motorway "Autobahn A2" close to Helmstedt
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: Between 1972 and 1974, the GDR erected a new control portal on a 35-hectare (86-acre) field situated on a hill near Marienborn, about 1.5 km (1,600 yards) east of the border. The control portal was staffed with as many as 1,000 passport control, customs and border police employees. The buildings were linked with a tunnel system through which military or police units could reach the control portal quickly and secretly.
  The Western Allies kept control of their checkpoint on the western side, with small garrisons of French, British and American troops stationed in Helmstedt. The West German Bundesgrenzschutz had assumed control of the operative controls on the western side of the border crossing, where the buildings were notably smaller compared with Marienborn.
  The restrictive East German controls and the ever-increasing amount of traffic soon resulted in notable waiting times on the West German side. Therefore, the West German government added extensive car parks and rest areas on the autobahn approach to Helmstedt.
  Border controls were relaxed after the Wende during late 1989. The crossing was dismantled at midnight on June 30, 1990, exactly 45 years after its first opening. The former GDR buildings have been a listed building since October 1990, however the former GDR departures area has been demolished when the A 2 road was expanded to six lanes. A rest stop with a motel has now been built on part of the old GDR control portal's area.
caption: Die Wölbung der Hände, a memorial on the former West German side
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