Inner German border The Inner German border ( or " deutsch – deutsche Grenze " ; initially also " Zonengrenze " ) was the frontier between the German Democratic Republic ( GDR , East Germany ) and the Federal Republic of Germany ( FRG , West Germany ) from 1949 to 1990 . Not including the similar but physically separate Berlin Wall , the border was long and ran from the Baltic Sea to Czechoslovakia . It was formally established on 1 July 1945 as the boundary between the Western and Soviet occupation zone s of Germany . On the eastern side , it was made one of the world ' s most heavily fortified frontiers , defined by a continuous line of high metal fences and walls , barbed wire , alarms , anti - vehicle ditches , watchtowers , automatic booby traps and minefields . It was patrolled by 50 , 000 armed GDR guards who faced tens of thousands of West German , British and U . S . guards and soldiers . In the hinterlands behind the border , more than a million NATO and Warsaw Pact troops awaited the possible outbreak of war . The border was a physical manifestation of Winston Churchill ' s metaphorical Iron Curtain that separated the Soviet and Western blocs during the Cold War . It marked the boundary between two ideological systems – capitalist democracy and single - party communism . Built by East Germany in phases from 1952 to the late 1980s , the fortifications were constructed to stop the large - scale emigration of East German citizens to the West , about 1 , 000 of whom are said to have died trying to cross it during its 45 - year existence . It caused widespread economic and social disruption on both sides ; East Germans living in the region suffered especially draconian restrictions . The better - known Berlin Wall was a physically separate , less elaborate , and much shorter border barrier surrounding West Berlin , more than to the east of the inner German border ( Berlin having been similarly divided by the four powers after World War II , despite the entire city being in the Soviet zone , thus creating an enclave of capitalism surrounded by the communist east ) . On 9 November 1989 , the East German government announced the opening of the Berlin Wall and the inner German border . Over the following days , millions of East Germans poured into the West to visit . Hundreds of thousands moved permanently to the West in the following months as more crossings were opened , and ties between long - divided communities were re - established as border controls became little more than a cursory formality . The inner German border was not completely abandoned until 1 July 1990 , exactly 45 years to the day since its establishment , and only three months before German reunification formally ended Germany ' s division . Little remains of the inner German border ' s fortifications . Its route has been declared part of a " European Green Belt " linking national parks and nature reserves along the course of the old Iron Curtain from the Arctic Circle to the Black Sea . Museums and memorials along the old border commemorate the division and reunification of Germany and , in some places , preserve elements of the fortifications . Development . Origins . The inner German border originated from the Second World War Allies ' plans to divide a defeated Germany into occupation zones . The boundaries between these zones were drawn along the territorial boundaries of 19th - century German states and provinces that had largely disappeared with the unification of Germany in 1871 . Three zones were agreed on , each covering roughly a third of Germany ' s territories : a British zone in the north - west , an American zone in the south and a Soviet zone in the East . France was later given a zone in the far west of Germany , carved out of the British and American zones . The division of Germany was put into effect on 1 July 1945 . Because of their unexpectedly rapid advances through central Germany in the final weeks of the war , British and American troops occupied large areas of territory that had been assigned to the Soviet zone of occupation . The redeployment of Western troops prompted many Germans to flee to the West to escape the Soviet takeover of the remainder of the Soviet zone . The wartime Allies initially worked together under the auspices of the Allied Control Council ( ACC ) for Germany . Cooperation between the Western Allies and the Soviets ultimately broke down because of disagreements over Germany ' s political and economic future . In May 1949 , the three western occupation zones were merged to form the Federal Republic of Germany ( FRG ) with a freely elected government . The Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic ( GDR ) , under communist rule . From the outset , West Germany and the Allies rejected East Germany ' s legitimacy . The creation of East Germany was deemed a Communist / Soviet " fait accompli " , without a freely or fairly elected government . West Germany regarded German citizenship and rights as applying equally to East and West German citizens . An East German who escaped or was released to the West was automatically granted West German rights , including residence and the right to work ; West German laws were deemed to be applicable in the East . East Germans thus had a powerful incentive to move to the West , where they would enjoy greater freedom and economic prospects . The East German government sought to define the country as a legitimate state in its own right and portrayed West Germany as enemy territory ( " feindliches Ausland " ) – a capitalist , semi - fascist state that exploited its citizens , sought to regain the lost territories of the Third Reich , and stood opposed to the peaceful socialism of the GDR . 1945 – 52 : the " Green Border " . In the early days of the occupation , the Allies controlled traffic between the zones to manage the flow of refugees and prevent the escape of former Nazi officials and intelligence officers . These controls were gradually lifted in the Western zones , but were tightened between Western and Soviet zones in 1946 to stem a flow of economic and political refugees from the Soviet zone . Between October 1945 and June 1946 , 1 . 6 million Germans left the Soviet zone for the west . The east – west interzonal border became steadily more tense as the relationship between the Western Allies and the Soviets deteriorated . From September 1947 , an increasingly strict regime was imposed on the eastern Soviet zone boundary . The number of Soviet soldiers on the boundary was increased and supplemented with border guards from the newly established East German " Volkspolizei " ( " People ' s Police " ) . Many unofficial crossing points were blocked with ditches and barricades . The West Germans also stepped up security with the establishment in 1952 of the Federal Border Protection force of 20 , 000 men ; – the " Bundesgrenzschutz " , or BGS – however , Allied troops ( the British in the north , the Americans in the south ) retained responsibility for the military security of the border . The boundary line was nonetheless still fairly easy to cross . Local inhabitants were able to maintain fields on the other side , or even to live on one side and work on the other . Refugees were able to sneak across or bribe the guards , and the smuggling of goods in both directions was rife . The flow of emigrants remained large despite the increase in East German security measures : 675 , 000 people fled to West Germany between 1949 and 1952 . 1952 – 67 : the " Special Regime " . The relative openness of the border ended abruptly on 26 May 1952 when the GDR implemented a " special regime on the demarcation line " , justified as a measure to keep out " spies , diversionists , terrorists and smugglers " . The East German move was taken to limit the continuing exodus of its citizens , which threatened the viability of the GDR ' s economy . A ploughed strip 10 m ( 32 . 8 ft ) wide was created along the entire length of the inner German border . An adjoining " protective strip " ( " Schutzstreifen " ) 500 m ( 1 , 640 ft ) wide was placed under tight control . A " restricted zone " ( " " ) a further wide was created in which only those holding a special permit could live or work . Trees and brush were cut down along the border to clear lines of sight for the guards and to eliminate cover for would - be crossers . Houses adjoining the border were torn down , bridges were closed and barbed - wire fencing was put up in many places . Farmers were permitted to work their fields along the border only in daylight hours and under the watch of armed guards , who were authorised to use weapons if their orders were not obeyed . Border communities on both sides suffered acute disruption . Farms , coal mines and even houses were split in two by the sudden closure of the border . More than 8 , 300 East German civilians living along the border were forcibly resettled in a programme codenamed " Operation Vermin " ( " " ) . Another 3 , 000 residents , realising they were about to be expelled from their homes , fled to the West . The seal around the country was expanded in July 1962 when the GDR declared its entire Baltic coast a border zone subject to closures and restrictions . The border between East and West Berlin was also significantly tightened , although not fully closed ; East Germans were still able to cross into West Berlin , which then became the main route by which East Germans migrated to the West . Between 1949 and the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 , an estimated 3 . 5 million East Germans – a sixth of the entire population – emigrated to the West , most via Berlin . The railways between East Berlin and important parts of East Germany went through West Berlin , so an easy way of going to West Berlin was leaving such a train . This railway configuration could not easily be changed , but a new 125 km long railway , Berlin outer ring was built around West Berlin , finished 1961 . 1967 – 89 : the " Modern Frontier " . The GDR decided to upgrade the fortifications in the late 1960s to establish a " modern frontier " that would be far more difficult to cross . Barbed - wire fences were replaced with harder - to - climb expanded metal barriers ; directional anti - personnel mines and anti - vehicle ditches blocked the movement of people and vehicles ; tripwires and electric signals helped guards to detect escapees ; all - weather patrol roads enabled rapid access to any point along the border ; and wooden guard towers were replaced with prefabricated concrete towers and observation bunkers . Construction of the new border system started in September 1967 . Nearly of new fencing was built , usually further back from the geographical line than the old barbed - wire fences . The upgrade programme continued well into the 1980s . The new system immediately reduced the number of successful escapes from around 1 , 000 people a year in the mid - 1960s to only about 120 per year a decade later . The introduction of West German Chancellor Willy Brandt ' s " Ostpolitik " ( " Eastern Policy " ) at the end of the 1960s reduced tensions between the two German states . It led to a series of treaties and agreements in the early 1970s , most significantly a treaty in which East and West Germany recognised each other ' s sovereignty and supported each other ' s applications for UN membership , although East Germans leaving for the West retained the right to claim a West German passport . Reunification remained a theoretical objective for West Germany , but in practice that objective was put aside by the West and abandoned entirely by the East . New crossing points were established and East German crossing regulations were slightly relaxed , although the fortifications were as rigorously maintained as ever . In 1988 , the GDR leadership considered proposals to replace the expensive and intrusive fortifications with a high - technology system codenamed " Grenze 2000 " . Drawing on technology used by the Red Army during the Soviet – Afghan War , it would have replaced the fences with sensors and detectors . However , the plan was never implemented . Economic and social impact . The closure of the border had a substantial economic and social impact on both halves of Germany . Cross - border transport links were largely severed ; 10 main railway lines , 24 secondary lines , 23 autobahn s or national roads , 140 regional roads and thousands of smaller roads , paths and waterways were blocked or otherwise interrupted . The tightest level of closure came in 1966 , by which time only six railway lines , three autobahns , one regional road and two waterways were left open . When relations between the two states eased in the 1970s , the GDR agreed to open more crossing points in exchange for economic assistance . Telephone and mail communications operated throughout the Cold War , although packages and letters were routinely opened and telephone calls were monitored by the East German secret police . The economic impact of the border was harsh . Many towns and villages were severed from their markets and economic hinterlands , which caused areas close to the border to go into an economic and demographic decline . The two German states responded to the problem in different ways . West Germany gave substantial subsidies to communities under the " Aid to border regions " programme , an initiative begun in 1971 to save them from total decline . Infrastructure and businesses along the border benefited from substantial state investment . East Germany ' s communities had a much harder time because the country was poorer and their government imposed severe restrictions on them . The border region was progressively depopulated through the clearance of numerous villages and the forced relocation of their inhabitants . Border towns suffered draconian building restrictions : inhabitants were forbidden from building new houses and even repairing existing buildings , causing infrastructure to fall into severe decay . The state did little but to provide a 15 % income supplement to those living in the " Sperrzone " and " Schutzstreifen " ; but this did not halt the shrinkage of the border population as younger people moved elsewhere to find employment and better living conditions . The GDR bore a huge economic cost for its creation of the border zone and the building and maintenance of its fortifications . The zone consumed around – more than six per cent of the East ' s territory , within which economic activity was severely curtailed or ceased entirely . The actual cost of the border system was a closely guarded secret , and even today it is uncertain exactly how much it cost to build and maintain . The BT - 9 watchtowers each cost around 65 , 000 East German mark s to build and the expanded metal fences cost around 151 , 800 marks per kilometre . The implementation of the " modern frontier " in the 1970s led to a major increase in personnel costs . Total annual expenditure on GDR border troops rose from 600 million marks per annum in 1970 to nearly 1 billion by 1983 . In early 1989 , East German economists calculated that each arrest cost the equivalent of 2 . 1 million marks , three times the average " value " to the state of each working person . Views of the border . The two German governments promoted very different views of the border . The GDR saw it as the international frontier of a sovereign state – a defensive rampart against Western aggression . In " Grenzer " ( " Border Guard " ) , a 1981 East German Army propaganda film , NATO and West German troops and tanks were depicted as ruthless militarists advancing towards East Germany . Border troops interviewed in the film described what they saw as the rightfulness of their cause and the threat of Western agents , spies and provocateurs . Their colleagues killed on the border were hailed as heroes and schoolchildren in East Berlin were depicted saluting their memorial . However , West German propaganda leaflets referred to the border as merely " the demarcation line of the Soviet occupation zone " , and emphasised the cruelty and injustice of the division of Germany . Signs along the Western side of the frontier declared " " Hier ist Deutschland nicht zu Ende – Auch drüben ist Vaterland ! " " ( " Germany does not end here : the Fatherland is over there too ! " ) Whereas the GDR kept its civilians well away from the border , the West Germans actively encouraged tourism , and locations where the border was especially intrusive became tourist attractions . One example was the divided village of Mödlareuth in Bavaria . The Associated Press reported in 1976 that " Western tourists by the busload come out to have their pictures taken against the backdrop of the latest Communist walled city [ and ] the concrete blockhouse and the bunker - slits protruding from the green hillock where a collective ' s cows were grazing . " At Zimmerau in Bavaria , a observation tower ( the " Bayernturm " ) was constructed in 1966 to give visitors a view across the hills into East Germany . The inhabitants of the East German village of Kella found themselves becoming a tourist attraction for Westerners in the 1970s and 1980s . A viewing point , the " Window on Kella " , was established on a nearby hilltop from which tourists could peer across the border with binoculars and telescopes . To the amusement of many , a nudist beach was opened on the Western side in 1975 immediately adjoining the border ' s terminus near the Baltic Sea port of Travemünde . Visitors often sought to have a nude photograph taken below a looming East German watchtower ; the West Germans noted " a lot more movement on that watchtower since the nudist beach opened . " Fortifications of the inner German border . The East German side of the inner German border was dominated by a complex system of fortifications and security zones , over long and several kilometres deep . The fortifications were established in 1952 and reached a peak of complexity and lethality at the start of the 1980s . The border guards referred to the side of the border zone facing the GDR as the " freundwärts " ( literally " friendward " ) side and that facing the FRG as the " feindwärts " ( " enemyward " ) side . Restricted zone . A person attempting to make an illegal crossing of the inner German border around 1980 , travelling from east to west , would first come to the " restricted zone " ( " Sperrzone " ) . This was a wide area running parallel to the border to which access was heavily restricted . Its inhabitants could only enter and leave using special permits , were not permitted to other villages within the zone , and were subjected to nighttime curfews . It was not fenced off but access roads were blocked by checkpoints . On the far side of the " Sperrzone " was the signal fence ( " Signalzaun " ) , a continuous expanded metal fence long and 2 metres ( 6 . 6 ft ) high . The fence was lined with low - voltage electrified strands of barbed wire . When the wire was touched or cut , an alarm was activated to alert nearby guards . Protective strip . On the other side of the signal fence lay the heavily guarded " protective strip " ( " Schutzstreifen " ) , wide , which adjoined the border itself . It was monitored by guards stationed in concrete , steel and wooden watchtowers constructed at regular intervals along the entire length of the border . Nearly 700 such watchtowers had been built by 1989 ; the larger ones were equipped with a powerful 1 , 000 - watt rotating searchlight ( " Suchscheinwerfer " ) and firing ports to enable the guards to open fire without having to go outside . Their entrances were always positioned facing towards the East German side , so that observers in the West could not see guards going in or out . Around 1 , 000 two - man observation bunkers also stood along the length of the border . Guard dogs were used to provide an additional deterrent to escapees . Dog runs ( " Kettenlaufanlagen " ) , consisting of a suspended wire up to long to which a large dog was chained , were installed on high - risk sectors of the border . The dogs were occasionally turned loose in temporary pens adjoining gates or damaged sections of the fence . The guards used an all - weather patrol road ( " Kolonnenweg " , literally " column way " ) to patrol the border and travel rapidly to the scene of an attempted crossing . It consisted of two parallel lines of perforated concrete blocks which ran beside the border for around . Next to the " Kolonnenweg " was one of the control strips ( " Kontrollstreifen " ) , a line of bare earth running parallel to the fences along almost the entire length of the border . There were two control strips , both located on the inward - facing sides of the fences . The secondary " K2 " strip , wide , ran alongside the signal fence , while the primary " K6 " strip , wide , ran along the inside of the fence or wall . In places where the border was vulnerable to escape attempts , the control strip was illuminated at night by high - intensity floodlights ( " Beleuchtungsanlage " ) , which were also used at points where rivers and streams crossed the border . Anyone attempting to cross the control strips would leave footprints which were quickly detected by patrols . This enabled the guards to identify otherwise undetected escape attempts , recording how many individuals had crossed , where escape attempts were being made and at which times of day escapees were active . From this information , the guards were able to determine where and when patrols needed to be increased , where improved surveillance from watchtowers and bunkers was required , and which areas needed additional fortifications . Anti - vehicle barriers were installed on the other side of the primary control strip . In some locations , Czech hedgehog barricades , known in German as " Panzersperre " or " Stahligel " ( " steel hedgehogs " ) , were used to prevent vehicles being used to cross the border . Elsewhere , V - shaped anti - vehicle ditches known as " Kraftfahrzeug - Sperrgraben " ( " KFZ - Sperrgraben " ) were installed along of the border and were absent only where natural obstacles such as streams , rivers , gullies or thick forests made such barriers unnecessary . Outer fence , walls and minefields . The outer fences were constructed in a number of phases , starting with the initial fortification of the border from May 1952 . The first - generation fence was a crudely constructed single barbed - wire fence ( " Stacheldrahtzaun " ) which stood between high and was built very close to the actual border line . This was replaced in the late 1950s with parallel rows of more strongly constructed barbed - wire fences , sometimes with concertina wire placed between the fences as an additional obstacle . A " third - generation " fence , much more solidly constructed , was installed in an ongoing programme of improvements from the late 1960s to the 1980s . The fence line was moved back to create an outer strip between the fence and the actual border . The barbed - wire fences were replaced with a barrier that was usually 3 . 2 – 4 . 0 metres ( 10 – 13 ft ) high . It was constructed with expanded metal mesh ( " Metallgitterzaun " ) panels . The openings in the mesh were generally too small to provide finger - holds and were very sharp . The panels could not easily be pulled down , as they overlapped , and they could not be cut through with a bolt - or wire - cutter . Nor could they be tunnelled under easily , as the bottom segment of the fences was partially buried in the ground . In a number of places , more lightly constructed fences ( " Lichtsperren " ) consisting of mesh and barbed wire lined the border . The fences were not continuous but could be crossed at a number of places . Gates were installed to enable guards to patrol up to the line and to give engineers access for maintenance on the outward - facing side of the barrier . In some places , villages adjoining the border were fenced with wooden board fences ( " Holzlattenzaun " ) or concrete barrier walls ( " Betonsperrmauern " ) standing around high . Windows in buildings adjoining the border were bricked or boarded up , and buildings deemed too close to the border were pulled down . The barrier walls stood along only a small percentage of the border – of the total length by 1989 . Anti - personnel mines were installed along approximately half of the border ' s length starting in 1966 ; by the 1980s , some 1 . 3 million mines of various Soviet - made types had been laid . In addition , from 1970 the outer fence was booby - trapped with around 60 , 000 SM - 70 ( " Splittermine - 70 " ) directional anti - personnel mines . They were activated by tripwires connected to the firing mechanism . This detonated a horn - shaped charge filled with shrapnel that was sprayed in one direction along the line of the fence . The device was potentially lethal to a range of around . The mines were eventually removed by the end of 1984 in the face of international condemnation of the East German government . Border line . Until the late 1960s the fortifications were constructed almost up to the actual border line . When the third - generation fortifications were constructed , the fences were moved back from between to as much as . This gave the guards a clear field of fire to target escapees without shots landing in the West and provided a buffer zone where engineers could work on maintaining the outward face of the fence in East German territory . Access to the outer strip was very tightly controlled , to ensure that the guards themselves would not be tempted to escape . Although often described by Western sources as a " no - man ' s land " , it was de jure wholly East German territory ; trespassers could be arrested or shot . The actual line between West and East Germany was located on the far side of the outer strip . It was marked by granite stones ( " Grenzsteine " ) with the letters " DDR " carved on the west - facing edge . Around 2 , 600 distinctive East German concrete " barber pole " ( " Grenzsäule " or " Grenzpfähle " ) markers were installed just behind the border line at intervals of about . A metal coat of arms of East Germany ( " Staatsemblem " ) was fixed to the side of the marker facing West Germany . On the West German side , there were no fortifications of any kind , nor even any patrol roads in most areas . Warning signs ( " Grenzschilder " ) with messages such as " Achtung ! Zonengrenze ! " ( " Danger ! Zonal border ! " ) or " Halt ! Hier Zonengrenze " ( " Stop ! Zonal border here " ) notified visitors . Foreign military personnel were restricted from approaching the border to avoid clashes or other unwanted incidents . Signs in English and German provided notifications of the distance to the border to prevent accidental crossings . No such restriction applied to Western civilians , who were free to go up to the border line , and there were no physical obstacles to stop their crossing it . East Germany ' s sea border . The inner German border system also extended along the Baltic coast , dubbed the " blue border " or sea border of the GDR . The coastline was partly fortified along the east side mouth of the river Trave opposite the West German port of Travemünde . Watchtowers , walls and fences stood along the marshy shoreline to deter escape attempts and the water was patrolled by high - speed East German boats . The continuous line of the inner German border ended at the peninsula of Priwall , still belonging to Travemünde , but already on the east side of the Trave . From there to Boltenhagen , along some 15 km of the eastern shore of the Bay of Mecklenburg , the GDR shoreline was part of the restricted - access " protective strip " or " Schutzgebiet " . Security controls were imposed on the rest of the coast from Boltenhagen to Altwarp on the Polish border , including the whole of the islands of Poel , Rügen , Hiddensee , Usedom and the peninsulas of Darß and Wustrow . The GDR implemented a variety of security measures along its Baltic coastline to hinder escape attempts . Camping and access to boats was severely limited and 27 watchtowers were built along the Baltic coastline . If a suspected escape attempt was spotted , high - speed patrol boats would be dispatched to intercept the fugitives . Armed patrols equipped with powerful mobile searchlights monitored the beaches . Escapees aimed for the western ( West German ) shore of the Bay of Mecklenburg , a Danish lightship off the port of Gedser , the southern Danish islands of Lolland and Falster , or simply the international shipping lanes in the hope of being picked up by a passing freighter . The Baltic Sea was , however , an extremely dangerous escape route . In all , 189 people are estimated to have died attempting to flee via the Baltic . Some East Germans tried to escape by jumping overboard from East German ships docked in Baltic harbours . So many East Germans attempted to flee this way in Danish ports that harbourmasters installed extra life - saving equipment on quaysides where East German vessels docked . The GDR ' s government responded by stationing armed " Transportpolizei " ( " Trapos " ) on passenger ships to deal forcefully with escape attempts . On one occasion in August 1961 , the " Trapos " caused an international incident in the Danish port of Gedser , when they beat up a would - be escapee on the quayside and opened fire , hitting a Danish boat in the harbour . The next day , thousands of Danes turned out to protest against " " Vopo " ( Volkspolizei ) methods . " The " boat - jumpers " were eventually stopped by further restricting the already limited travel rights of the GDR ' s population . River borders . The border also ran along part of the length of three major rivers of central Germany : the Elbe between Lauenburg and Schnackenburg ( around ) , the Werra and the Saale . The river borders were especially problematic ; although the Western Allies and West Germany held that the demarcation line ran along the eastern bank , the East Germans and Soviets insisted that it was located in the middle of the river ( the Thalweg principle ) . In practice , the waterways were shared 50 / 50 but the navigation channels often strayed across the line . This led to tense confrontations as East or West German vessels sought to assert their right to free passage on the waterways . The rivers were as heavily guarded as other parts of the border . On the Elbe , East Germany maintained a fleet of about 30 fast patrol boats and West Germany had some sixteen customs vessels . The river border was closely watched for escapees , many of whom drowned attempting to cross . Numerous bridges blown up in the closing days of the Second World War remained in ruins , while other surviving bridges were blocked or demolished on the East German side . There were no ferry crossings and river barges were rigorously inspected by the GDR border guards . To prevent escape attempts , the East German river banks were barricaded with a continuous line of metal fences and concrete walls . At one location , Rüterberg on the Elbe , the border fortifications completely surrounded the village and sealed off the inhabitants from the rest of East Germany as well as the West . Border guards of the inner German border . The guards of the inner German border comprised tens of thousands of military , paramilitary and civilian personnel from both East and West Germany , as well as from the United Kingdom , the United States and initially the Soviet Union . East Germany . Following the end of the Second World War , the East German side of the border was guarded initially by the Border Troops ( " Pogranichnyie Voiska " ) of the Soviet NKVD ( later the KGB ) . They were supplemented from 1946 by a locally recruited paramilitary force , the German Border Police ( " Deutsche Grenzpolizei " or DGP ) , before the Soviets handed over full control of the border to the East Germans in 1955 / 56 . In 1961 the DGP was converted into a military force within the National People ' s Army ( " Nationale Volksarmee " , NVA ) . The newly renamed Border Troops of the GDR ( " Grenztruppen der DDR " , commonly nicknamed the " Grenzer " ) came under the NVA ' s Border Command or " Grenzkommando " . They were responsible for securing and defending the borders with West Germany , Czechoslovakia , Poland , the Baltic Sea and West Berlin . At their peak , the " Grenztruppen " had up to 50 , 000 personnel . Around half of the " Grenztruppen " were conscripts , a lower proportion than in other branches of the East German armed forces . Many potential recruits were screened out as potentially unreliable ; for instance , actively religious individuals or those with close relatives in West Germany . They were all subjected to close scrutiny to assure their political reliability and were given intensive ideological indoctrination . A special unit of the Stasi secret police worked covertly within the " Grenztruppen " , posing as regular border guards , between 1968 and 1985 , to weed out potential defectors . One in ten officers and one in thirty enlisted men were said to have been recruited by the Stasi as informers . The Stasi regularly interviewed and maintained files on every guard . Stasi operatives were directly responsible for some aspects of security ; passport control stations at crossings were manned by Stasi officers wearing " Grenztruppen " uniforms . The " Grenztruppen " were closely watched to ensure that they could not take advantage of their inside knowledge to escape across the border . Patrols , watchtowers and observation posts were always manned by two or three guards at a time . They were not allowed to go out of each other ' s sight in any circumstances . If a guard attempted to escape , his colleagues were under instructions to shoot him without hesitation or prior warning ; 2 , 500 did escape to the West , 5 , 500 more were caught and imprisoned for up to five years , and a number were shot and killed or injured in the attempt . The work of the guards involved carrying out repair work on the defences , monitoring the zone from watchtowers and bunkers and patrolling the line several times a day . Border Reconnaissance ( " Grenzaufklärungszug " or GAK ) soldiers , an elite reconnaissance force , carried out patrols and intelligence - gathering on the western side of the fence . Western visitors to the border were routinely photographed by the GAKs , who also oversaw work detachments maintaining the fence . The workers would be covered by machine guns to discourage them from attempting to escape . West Germany . A number of West German state organisations were responsible for policing the western side of the border . These included the " Bundesgrenzschutz " ( BGS , Federal Border Protection ) , the " Bayerische Grenzpolizei " ( Bavarian Border Police ) and the " Bundeszollverwaltung " ( Federal Customs Administration ) . West German Army units were not allowed to approach the border without being accompanied by BGS personnel . The BGS , established in 1951 , was responsible for policing a zone deep along the border . Its 20 , 000 personnel were equipped with armoured cars , anti - tank guns , helicopters , trucks and jeeps . The BGS had limited police powers within its zone of operations to tackle threats to the peace of the border . The " Bundeszollverwaltung " ( BZV ) was responsible for policing much of the inner German border and manning the West German crossings . Its personnel lived with their families in communities along the border and carried out regular policing tasks in a zone about deep along the border . They had the power to arrest and search suspects in their area of operations with the exception of the section of border in Bavaria . The BZV ' s remit overlapped significantly with that of the BGS , which led to a degree of feuding between the two agencies . The " Bayerische Grenzpolizei " ( BGP ) was a border police force raised by the Bavarian government to carry out policing duties along the inner German border ' s in Bavaria . By the late 1960s , the BGP had 600 men patrolling its sector of the border , alongside the BZV , BGS and US Army . Its duties were very similar to those of the BZV , leading to turf wars between the two agencies . Western Allies . The British Army conducted only relatively infrequent patrols along its sector of the inner German border , principally for training purposes and symbolic value . By the 1970s it was carrying out only one patrol a month , only rarely using helicopters or ground surveillance radar and erecting no permanent observation posts . The British border zone was divided into two sectors covering a total distance of about along the border . Unlike the Americans , the British did not assign specific units to border duty but rotated the task between the divisions of the British Army of the Rhine . The border was also patrolled in the British sector by the British Frontier Service , the smallest of the Western border surveillance organisations . Its personnel served as a liaison between British military and political interests and the German agencies on the border . The BFS was disbanded in 1991 following Germany ' s reunification . The United States Army maintained a substantial and continuous military presence at the inner German border throughout the entire period from 1945 to after the end of the Cold War . Regular American soldiers manned the border from the end of the war until they were replaced in 1946 by the United States Constabulary , which was disbanded in 1952 after policing duties were transferred to the German authorities . It was replaced by three dedicated armoured cavalry regiments assigned to provide a permanent defence . The 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment based at Bamberg , 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment based at Nuremberg and the 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment based at Fulda – later replaced by the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment – monitored the border using observation posts , ground and air patrols , countering intrusions and gathering intelligence on Warsaw Pact activities . Cross - border contacts . There was little informal contact between the two sides ; East German guards were under orders not to speak to Westerners . After the initiation of " détente " between East and West Germany in the 1970s , the two sides established procedures for maintaining formal contacts through fourteen direct telephone connections or " Grenzinformationspunkte " ( GIP , " border information points " ) . They were used to resolve local problems affecting the border , such as floods , forest fires or stray animals . For many years , the two sides waged a propaganda battle across the border using propaganda signs and canisters of leaflets fired or dropped into each other ' s territory . West German leaflets sought to undermine the willingness of East German guards to shoot at refugees attempting to cross the border , while East German leaflets promoted the GDR ' s view of West Germany as a militaristic regime intent on restoring Germany ' s 1937 borders . During the 1950s , West Germany sent millions of propaganda leaflets into East Germany each year . In 1968 alone , over 4 , 000 projectiles containing some 450 , 000 leaflets were fired from East Germany into the West . Another 600 waterproof East German leaflet containers were recovered from cross - border rivers . The " leaflet war " was eventually ended by mutual agreement in the early 1970s as part of the normalisation of relations between the two German states . Crossing the inner German border . The inner German border was never entirely sealed in the fashion of the border between the two Koreas and could be crossed in either direction throughout the Cold War . The post - war agreements on the governance of Berlin specified that the Western Allies were to have access to the city via defined air , road , rail and river corridors . This was mostly respected by the Soviets and East Germans , albeit with periodic interruptions and harassment of travellers . Even during the Berlin Blockade of 1948 , supplies could be brought in by air – the famous Berlin Airlift . Before and after the Blockade , Western civilian and military trains , road traffic and barges routinely passed through East Germany " en route " to Berlin . The border could be crossed legally only through a limited number of air , road , rail and river routes . Foreigners were able to cross East German territory to or from West Berlin , Denmark , Sweden , Poland and Czechoslovakia . However , they had only limited and very tightly controlled access to the rest of East Germany and faced numerous restrictions on travel , accommodation and expenditure . Lengthy inspections caused long delays to traffic at the crossing points . Westerners found crossing the inner German border to be a somewhat disturbing experience ; Jan Morris wrote : Crossing points . Before 1952 , the inner German border could be crossed at almost any point along its length . The fortification of the border resulted in the severing of 32 railway lines , three autobahns , 31 main roads , eight primary roads , about 60 secondary roads and thousands of lanes and cart tracks . The number of crossing points was reduced to three air corridors , three road corridors , two railway lines and two river connections giving transit access to Berlin , plus a handful of additional crossing points for freight traffic . The situation improved somewhat after the initiation of " détente " in the 1970s . Additional crossings for so - called " kleine Grenzverkehr " – " small border traffic " , essentially meaning West German day trippers – were opened at various locations along the border . By 1982 , there were 19 border crossings : six roads , three autobahns , eight railway lines plus the Elbe river and the Mittellandkanal . The largest was at Helmstedt - Marienborn on the Hanover – Berlin autobahn ( A 2 ) , through which 34 . 6 million travellers passed between 1985 – 89 . Codenamed Checkpoint Alpha , this was the first of three Allied checkpoints on the road to Berlin . The others were Checkpoint Bravo , where the autobahn crossed from East Germany into West Berlin , and most famous of all , Checkpoint Charlie , the only place where non - Germans could cross from West to East Berlin . It was not possible to simply drive through the gap in the fence that existed at crossing points , as the East Germans installed high - impact vehicle barriers and mobile rolling barriers that could ( and did ) kill drivers that attempted to ram them . Vehicles were subjected to rigorous checks to uncover fugitives . Inspection pits and mirrors allowed the undersides of vehicles to be scrutinised . Probes were used to investigate the chassis and even the fuel tank , where a fugitive might be concealed , and vehicles could be partially dismantled in on - site garages . At Marienborn there was even a mortuary garage where coffins could be checked to confirm that the occupants really were dead . Passengers were checked and often interrogated about their travel plans and reasons for travelling . The system used simple technology and was slow , relying largely on vast card indexes recording travellers ' details , but it was effective nonetheless ; during the 28 years of operation of the Marienborn complex , no successful escapes were recorded . Border crossing regulations . West Germans were able to cross the border relatively freely to visit relatives , but had to go through numerous bureaucratic formalities . East Germans were subjected to far stricter restrictions . It was not until November 1964 that they were allowed to visit the West at all , and even then only pensioners were allowed . This gave rise to a joke that only in East Germany did people look forward to old age . Younger East Germans were not allowed to travel to the West until 1972 , though few did so until the mid - 1980s . They had to apply for an exit visa and passport , pay a substantial fee , obtain permission from their employer and undergo an interrogation from the police . The odds were against successful applications , and only approximately 40 , 000 a year were approved . Refusal was often arbitrary , dependent on the goodwill of local officials . Members of the Party elite and cultural ambassadors were frequently given permission to travel , as were essential transport workers . However , they were not permitted to take their families with them . Until the late 1980s , ordinary East Germans were only permitted to travel to the West on " urgent family business " such as the marriage , serious illness or death of a close relative . In February 1986 , the regime relaxed the definition of " urgent family business " , which prompted a massive increase in the number of East German citizens able to travel to the West . The relaxation of the restrictions was reported to have been motivated by a desire on the part of the East German leadership to reduce their citizens ' desire to travel and shrink the number applying to emigrate . In practice , however , it had exactly the opposite effect . Emigrating from East Germany . There was no formal legal basis under which a citizen could emigrate from East Germany . In 1975 , however , East Germany signed up to the Helsinki Accords , a pan - European treaty to improve relations between the countries of Europe . An increasing number of East German citizens sought to use the Accords ' provision on freedom of movement to secure exit visas . By the late 1980s over 100 , 000 applications for visas were being submitted annually with around 15 , 000 – 25 , 000 being granted . The GDR ' s government nonetheless remained opposed to emigration and sought to dissuade would - be émigrés . The process of applying for an exit permit was deliberately made slow , demeaning , frustrating and often fruitless . Applicants were marginalised , demoted or sacked from their jobs , excluded from universities and subjected to ostracism . They faced the threat of having their children taken into state custody on the grounds that they were unfit to bring up children . The law was used to punish those who continued to apply for emigration ; over 10 , 000 applicants were arrested by the Stasi between the 1970s and 1989 . A report for the Central Committee ' s security section noted : " The emigration problem is confronting us with a fundamental problem of the GDR ' s development . Experience shows that the current repertoire of solutions ( improved travel possibilities , expatriation of applicants , etc . ) have not brought the desired results , but rather the opposite . " The agitation for emigration , the report concluded , " threatens to undermine beliefs in the correctness of the Party ' s policies . " Ransoms and " humanitarian releases " . East German citizens could also emigrate through the semi - secret route of being ransomed by the West German government in a process termed " Freikauf " ( literally the buying of freedom ) . Between 1964 and 1989 , 33 , 755 political prisoners were ransomed . A further 2 , 087 prisoners were released to the West under an amnesty in 1972 . Another 215 , 000 people , including 2 , 000 children cut off from their parents , were allowed to leave East Germany to rejoin their families . In exchange , West Germany paid over 3 . 4 billion DM – nearly $ 2 . 3 billion at 1990 prices – in goods and hard currency . Those ransomed were valued on a sliding scale , ranging from around 1 , 875 DM for a worker to around 11 , 250 DM for a doctor . The justification , according to East Germany , was that this was compensation for the money invested by the state in the prisoner ' s training . For a while , payments were made in kind using goods that were in short supply in East Germany , such as oranges , bananas , coffee and medical drugs . The average prisoner was worth around 4 , 000 DM worth of goods . The scheme was highly controversial in the West . " Freikauf " was denounced by many as human trafficking but was defended by others as an " act of pure humanitarianism " ; the West German government budgeted money for " Freikauf " under the euphemistic heading of " support of special aid measures of an all - German character . " Escape attempts and victims of the inner German border . Refugee flows and escape attempts . Between 1950 and 1988 , around four million East Germans migrated to the West ; 3 . 454 million left between 1950 and the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 . After the border was fortified and the Berlin Wall constructed , the number of illegal crossings fell dramatically and continued to fall as the defences were improved over the subsequent decades . However , escapees were never more than a small minority of the total number of emigrants from East Germany . During the 1980s , only about 1 % of those who left East Germany did so by escaping across the border . Far more people left the country after being granted official permits , by fleeing through third countries or by being ransomed by the West German government . The vast majority of refugees were motivated by economic concerns and sought to improve their living conditions and opportunities by migrating to the West . Events such as the crushing of the 1953 uprising , the imposition of collectivisation and East Germany ' s final economic crisis in the late 1980s prompted surges in the number of escape attempts . Attempts to flee across the border were carefully studied and recorded by the GDR authorities to identify possible weak points . These were addressed by strengthening the fortifications in vulnerable areas . At the end of the 1970s a study was carried out by the East German army to review attempted " border breaches " ( " Grenzdurchbrüche " ) . It found that 4 , 956 people had attempted to escape across the border between 1 January 1974 and 30 November 1979 . Of those , 3 , 984 people ( 80 . 4 % ) were arrested by the " Volkspolizei " in the " Sperrzone " , the outer restricted zone . 205 people ( 4 . 1 % ) were caught at the signal fence . Within the inner security zone , the " Schutzstreifen " , a further 743 people ( 15 % ) were arrested by the guards . 48 people ( 1 % ) were stopped – i . e . killed or injured – by landmines and 43 people ( 0 . 9 % ) by SM - 70 directional mines on the fence . A further 67 people ( 1 . 35 % ) were intercepted at the fence ( shot and / or arrested ) . A total of 229 people – just 4 . 6 % of attempted escapees , representing less than one in twenty – made it across the fence . Of these , the largest number ( 129 , or 55 % of successful escapees ) succeeded in making it across the fence in unmined sectors . 89 people ( 39 % of escapees ) managed to cross both the minefields and the fence , but just 12 people ( 6 % of the total ) succeeded in getting past the SM - 70s booby - trap mines on the fences . Escape attempts were severely punished by the GDR . From 1953 , the regime described the act of escaping as " Republikflucht " ( literally " flight from the Republic " ) , by analogy with the existing military term " Fahnenflucht " ( " desertion " ) . A successful escapee was not a " Flüchtling " ( " refugee " ) but a " Republikflüchtiger " ( " Republic deserter " ) . Those who attempted to escape were called " Sperrbrecher " ( literally " blockade runners " but more loosely translated as " border violators " ) . Those who helped escapees were not " Fluchthelfer " ( " escape helpers " ) , the Western term , but " Menschenhändler " ( " human traffickers " ) . Such ideologically coloured language enabled the regime to portray border crossers as little better than traitors and criminals . " Republikflucht " became a crime in 1957 , punishable by heavy fines and up to three years ' imprisonment . Any act associated with an escape attempt – including helping an escapee – was subject to this legislation . Those caught in the act were often tried for espionage as well and given proportionately harsher sentences . More than 75 , 000 people – an average of more than seven people a day – were imprisoned for attempting to escape across the border , serving an average of one to two years ' imprisonment . Border guards who attempted to escape were treated much more harshly and were on average imprisoned for five years . Escape methods . Escapees used a variety of methods . The great majority crossed on foot , though some took more unusual routes . One of the most spectacular was the escape in September 1979 of eight people from two families in a home - made hot - air balloon . Their flight involved an ascent to more than before landing near the West German town of Naila . The incident inspired the film " Night Crossing " . Other escapees relied more on physical strength and endurance . An escapee in 1987 used meat hooks to scale the fences , while in 1971 a doctor swam across the Baltic Sea from Rostock almost to the Danish island of Lolland , before he was picked up by a West German yacht . Another escapee used an air mattress to escape across the Baltic in 1987 . Mass escapes were rare . One of the few that succeeded took place on 2 October 1961 , when 53 people from the border village of Böseckendorf – a quarter of the village ' s population – escaped " en masse " , followed by another 13 inhabitants in February 1963 . An unusual mass escape occurred in September 1964 when 14 East Germans , including eleven children , were smuggled across the border in a refrigerated truck . They were able to escape detection by being concealed under the carcasses of slaughtered pigs being transported to the West . The traffic was not one - way ; thousands of people migrated each year from West Germany to the east , motivated by reasons such as marital problems , family estrangement and homesickness . A number of Allied military personnel , including British , French , German and United States troops , also defected . By the end of the Cold War , as many as 300 United States citizens were thought to have defected across the Iron Curtain for a variety of reasons – whether to escape criminal charges , for political reasons or because ( as the " St . Petersburg Times " put it ) " girl - hungry GI ' s [ were tempted ] with seductive sirens , who usually desert the love - lorn soldier once he is across the border . " The fate of such defectors varied considerably . Some were sent straight to labour camps on charges of espionage . Others committed suicide , while a few were able to find wives and work on the eastern side of the border . Order to fire . From 1945 onwards , unauthorised crossers of the inner German border risked being shot by Soviet or East German guards . The use of deadly force was termed the " Schießbefehl " ( " order to fire " or " command to shoot " ) . It was formally in force as early as 1948 , when regulations concerning the use of firearms on the border were promulgated . A regulation issued to East German police on 27 May 1952 stipulated that " failure to obey the orders of the Border Patrol will be met by the use of arms . " From the 1960s through to the end of the 1980s , the border guards were given daily verbal orders ( " Vergatterung " ) to " track down , arrest or annihilate violators . " The GDR formally codified its regulations on the use of deadly force in March 1982 , when the State Border Law mandated that firearms were to be used as the " maximum measure in the use of force " against individuals who " publicly attempt to break through the state border " . The GDR ' s leadership explicitly endorsed the use of deadly force . General Heinz Hoffmann , the GDR defence minister , declared in August 1966 that " anyone who does not respect our border will feel the bullet . " In 1974 , Erich Honecker , as Chairman of the GDR ' s National Defence Council , ordered : " Firearms are to be ruthlessly used in the event of attempts to break through the border , and the comrades who have successfully used their firearms are to be commended . " The " Schießbefehl " was , not surprisingly , very controversial in the West and was singled out for criticism by the West Germans . The GDR authorities occasionally suspended the " Schießbefehl " on occasions when it would have been politically inconvenient to have to explain dead refugees , such as during a visit to the GDR by the French foreign minister in 1985 . It was also a problem for many of the East German guards and was the motivating factor behind a number of escapes , when guards facing a crisis of conscience defected because of their unwillingness to shoot fellow citizens . Deaths on the border . It is still not certain how many people died on the inner German border or who they all were , as the GDR treated such information as a closely guarded secret . But estimates have risen steadily since unification , as evidence has been gathered from East German records . As of 2009 , unofficial estimates are up to 1 , 100 people , though officially released figures give a count from 270 up to 421 deaths . There were many ways to die on the inner German border . Numerous escapees were shot by the border guards , while others were killed by mines and booby - traps . A substantial number drowned while trying to cross the Baltic and the Elbe river . Not all of those killed on the border were attempting to escape . On 13 October 1961 , " Westfälische Rundschau " journalist Kurt Lichtenstein was shot on the border near the village of Zicherie after he attempted to speak with East German farm workers . His death aroused condemnation across the political spectrum in West Germany . The incident prompted students from Braunschweig to erect a sign on the border protesting the killing . An Italian truck driver and member of the Italian Communist Party was shot at a crossing point in August 1976 ; the GDR government was severely embarrassed and , unusually , offered an apology . In one notorious shooting on 1 May 1976 , a former East German political prisoner , Michael Gartenschläger , who had fled to the West some years before , was ambushed and killed by a Stasi commando squad on the border near Büchen . The Stasi reported that he had been " liquidated by security forces of the GDR " . Twenty - five East German border guards died after being shot from the Western side of the border or were killed by resisting escapees or ( often accidentally ) by their own colleagues . The East German government described them as " victims of armed assaults and imperialist provocations against the state border of the GDR " and alleged that " bandits " in the West took potshots at guards doing their duty – a version of events that was uncorroborated by Western accounts of border incidents . The two sides commemorated their dead in very different ways . Various mostly unofficial memorials were set up on the western side by people seeking to commemorate victims of the border . West Germans such as Michael Gartenschläger and Kurt Lichtenstein were commemorated with signs and memorials , some of which were supported by the government . The death of East German Heinz - Josef Große in 1982 was commemorated annually by demonstrations on the Western side of the border . After the policy of " détente " was initiated in the 1970s this became politically inconvenient and state support for border memorials largely ceased . The taboo in East Germany surrounding escapees meant that the great majority of deaths went unpublicised and uncommemorated . However , the deaths of border guards were used for GDR propaganda , which portrayed them as " martyrs " . Four stone memorials were erected in East Berlin to mark their deaths . The regime named schools , barracks and other public facilities after the dead guards and used their memorials as places of pilgrimage to signify that ( as a slogan put it ) " their deaths are our commitment " to maintaining the border . After 1989 the memorials were vandalised , neglected and ultimately removed . Fall of the inner German border . The fall of the inner German border came rapidly and unexpectedly in November 1989 , along with the fall of the Berlin Wall . Its integrity had been fatally compromised in May 1989 when a reformist Communist government in Hungary , supported by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev , began to dismantle its border fortifications . Hungary was already a popular tourist destination for East Germans . Its government was still notionally Communist but planned free elections and economic reform as part of a strategy of " rejoining Europe " and reforming its struggling economy . Opening the Hungarian border with Austria was essential to this effort ; West Germany had secretly offered a much - needed hard currency loan of DM 500 million ( $ 250 million ) in return for allowing citizens of the GDR to freely emigrate . Pictures of the barbed - wire fences being taken down were transmitted into East Germany by West German television stations . They prompted a mass exodus by hundreds of thousands of East Germans which began in earnest in September 1989 . In addition to those crossing the Hungarian border , tens of thousands of East Germans scaled the walls of the West German embassies in Prague , Warsaw and Budapest , where they were regarded as " German citizens " by the federal government , claiming " asylum " . Czechoslovakia ' s hardline communist government agreed to close its border with East Germany to choke off the exodus . The closure produced uproar across East Germany and the GDR government ' s bid to humiliate refugees by expelling them from the country in sealed trains backfired disastrously . Torn - up identity papers and East German passports littered the tracks as the refugees threw them out of the windows . When the trains passed through Dresden , 1 , 500 East Germans stormed the main railway station in an attempt to board . Dozens were injured and the station concourse was virtually destroyed . The small pro - democracy Monday demonstrations soon swelled into crowds of hundreds of thousands of people in cities across East Germany . The East German leadership considered using force but ultimately backed down , lacking support from the Soviet Union for a violent Tiananmen Square - style military intervention . Reformist members of the East German Politbüro sought to rescue the situation by forcing the resignation of the hardline Party chairman Erich Honecker , replacing him in October 1989 with the marginally less hardline Egon Krenz . The new government sought to appease the protesters by reopening the border with Czechoslovakia . This , however , merely resulted in the resumption of the mass exodus through Hungary . On 8 November 1989 , with huge demonstrations continuing across the country , the entire Politbüro resigned and a new , more moderate Politbüro was appointed under Krenz ' s continued leadership . Opening of the border and the fall of the GDR . The East German government sought to defuse the situation by relaxing the country ' s border controls with effect from 10 November 1989 ; the announcement was made on the evening of 9 November 1989 by Politbüro member Günter Schabowski at a somewhat chaotic press conference in East Berlin , who proclaimed the new control regime as liberating the people from a situation of psychological pressure by legalising and simplifying migration . Misunderstanding the note passed to him about the decision to open the border , he announced the border would be opened " immediately , without delay " , rather than from the following day as the government had intended . Crucially , it was neither meant to be an uncontrolled opening nor to apply to East Germans wishing to visit the West as tourists . At an interview in English after the press conference , Schabowski told the NBC reporter Tom Brokaw that " it is no question of tourism . It is a permission of leaving the GDR [ permanently ] . " As the press conference had been broadcast live , within hours , thousands of people gathered at the Berlin Wall demanding that the guards open the gates . The border guards were unable to contact their superiors for instructions and , fearing a stampede , opened the gates . The iconic scenes that followed – people pouring into West Berlin , standing on the Wall and attacking it with pickaxes – were broadcast worldwide . While the eyes of the world were on the " Mauerfall " ( the fall of the Wall ) in Berlin , a simultaneous process of " Grenzöffnung " ( border opening ) was taking place along the entire length of the inner German border . Existing crossings were opened immediately . Within the first four days , 4 . 3 million East Germans – a quarter of the country ' s entire population – poured into West Germany . At the Helmstedt crossing point on the Berlin – Hanover autobahn , cars were backed up for ; some drivers waited 11 hours to cross to the West . The border was opened in stages over the next few months . Many new crossing points were created , reconnecting communities that had been separated for nearly 40 years . BBC correspondent Ben Bradshaw described the jubilant scenes at the railway station of Hof in Bavaria in the early hours of 12 November : Even the East German border guards were not immune to the euphoria . One of them , Peter Zahn , described how he and his colleagues reacted to the opening of the border : To the surprise of many West Germans , many of the East German visitors spent their DM 100 " welcome money " buying great quantities of bananas , a highly prized rarity in the East . For months after the opening of the border , bananas were sold out at supermarkets along the western side of the border as East Germans bought up whole crates , believing supplies would soon be exhausted . The rush for fruit made the banana the unofficial symbol of the changes in East Germany , which some dubbed the " banana revolution " . Some West German leftists protested what they saw as rampant consumerism by tossing bananas at East Germans coming to visit the West . The easterners ' obsession with bananas was famously spoofed by the West German satirical magazine " Titanic " on the front cover of its November 1989 edition , which depicted " Easterner Gaby ( 17 ) , happy to be in West Germany : My first banana " . Gaby was shown holding a large peeled cucumber . The opening of the border had a profound political and psychological effect on the East German public . For many people the very existence of the GDR , which the SED had justified as the first " Socialist state on German soil " , came to seem pointless . The state was bankrupt , the economy was collapsing , the political class was discredited , the governing institutions were in chaos and the people were demoralised by the evaporation of the collective assumptions which had underpinned their society for forty years . Membership of the Party collapsed and Krenz himself resigned on 6 December 1989 after only 50 days in office , handing over to the moderate Hans Modrow . The removal of restrictions on travel prompted hundreds of thousands of East Germans to migrate to the West – more than 116 , 000 did so between 9 November and 31 December 1989 , compared with 40 , 000 for the whole of the previous year . The new East German leadership initiated " round table " talks with opposition groups , similar to the processes that had led to multi - party elections in Hungary and Poland . When the first free elections were held in East Germany in March 1990 , the former SED , which had renamed itself as the Party of Democratic Socialism , was swept from power and replaced by a pro - reunification Alliance for Germany coalition led by the Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ) , Chancellor Kohl ' s party . Both countries progressed rapidly towards reunification , while international diplomacy paved the way abroad . In July 1990 , monetary union was achieved . A " Treaty on the establishment of a unified Germany " was agreed on in August 1990 and political reunification took place on 3 October 1990 . Abandonment of the border . The border fortifications were progressively torn down and eventually abandoned in the months following its opening . Dozens of new crossings were opened by February 1990 , and the guards no longer carried weapons nor made much effort to check travellers ' passports . The guards ' numbers were rapidly reduced ; half were dismissed within five months of the opening . On 1 July 1990 the border was abandoned and the " Grenztruppen " were officially abolished ; all but 2 , 000 of them were dismissed or transferred to other jobs . The Bundeswehr gave the remaining border guards and other ex - NVA soldiers the task of clearing the fortifications , which was completed only in 1994 . The scale of the task was immense , involving both the clearing of the fortifications and the rebuilding of hundreds of roads and railway lines . A serious complication was the presence of mines along the border . Although the 1 . 4 million mines laid by the GDR were supposed to have been removed during the 1980s , it turned out that 34 , 000 were unaccounted for . A further 1 , 100 mines were found and removed following reunification at a cost of more than DM 250 million , in a programme that was not concluded until the end of 1995 . The border clearers ' task was aided unofficially by German civilians from both sides of the former border who scavenged the installations for fencing , wire and blocks of concrete to use in home improvements . Much of the fence was sold to a West German scrap - metal company . Environmental groups undertook a programme of re - greening the border , planting new trees and sowing grass seeds to fill in the clear - cut area along the line . Border area today . Very little remains of the installations along the former inner German border . At least 30 public , private and municipal museums along the old line present displays of equipment and other artifacts relating to the border . Among the preserved sites are several dozen watchtowers , short stretches of the fence and associated installations ( some of which have been reconstructed ) , sections of the wall still " in situ " at Hötensleben and Mödlareuth , and a number of buildings related to the border , such as the GDR crossing point at Marienborn . Substantial sections of the " Kolonnenweg " remain in place to serve as farm and forestry access roads , though the accompanying anti - vehicles ditches , fences and other obstacles have been almost entirely removed . Artworks , commemorative stones , memorials and signs have been erected at many points along the former border to mark its opening , to remember its victims and to record the division and reunification of Germany . The closure of the border region for nearly 40 years created a haven for wildlife in some places . Although parts of the East German side of the border were farmed , intensive farming of the kind practised elsewhere in Germany was absent and large areas were untouched by agriculture . Conservationists became aware as early as the 1970s that the border had become a refuge for rare species of animals and plants . Their findings led the Bavarian government to begin a programme of buying land along the border to ensure its protection from development . In December 1989 , only a month after the opening of the border , conservationists from East and West Germany met to work out a plan to establish a " German Green Belt " ( " Grünes Band Deutschland " ) stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Czech border . The Bundestag voted unanimously in December 2004 to extend federal protection to the Green Belt and incorporate it into a " European Green Belt " being developed along the entire length of the former Iron Curtain . The German Green Belt now links 160 natural parks , 150 flora - and - fauna areas , three UNESCO biosphere reservations and the Harz Mountains National Park . It is home to a wide variety of species that are rare elsewhere in Germany , including the wild cat , black stork , otter and rare mosses and orchids . Most of Germany ' s Red Kite s – more than half of the 25 , 000 that live in Europe – live along the former border . The Bund Naturschutz , one of Germany ' s largest conservation groups , is campaigning to extend the area within the Green Belt designated as nature conservation zones .