a once heavily fortified death strip and so unattractive tourist destination. will visit a small town torn apart in the cold war. well check out castle one of the symbols of german reunification. and globetrotters seen painters sends his regards from durban and south africa. i m heading south all the way along the border between hess and until i reach the. through cities and towns meadows and feels quite unimaginable that this region was once marred by the cold war and cut into by the iron curtain i want to find out what things were like back in the day and head over to point alpha a former u.s.
observation post at the inner german border. takes me around the premises 1st he shows me the different stages of the east german border fencing. starting in 1952 the old boundary stones were replaced with barbed wire. but those trying to flee could easily cut it when no border guards were in sight so the east german leadership made escaping more and more dangerous. were in the middle of a minefield that dates back to the 1960 s. when they began building the berlin wall on aug 13th 1961 the inner german border was secured through military means and 1.3 to 1400000 land mines were planted. the death strip whoever managed to pass it unscathed was often brought to a halt at the last border fence. really. it would have been very difficult to climb
for freedom that s the main point from the very beginning of the museum has been an expression of precious to gainst the wall. the mission statement was we want freedom in unity. your voice your pride and i hiked. visitors from all over the world come to learn about the extremes people went to to cross the border and the tragedies of failed attempts. sixty thousand automatic spring guns were installed on the inner german border any movement and they automatically fired shrapnel and soldiers had orders to shoot anyone in the death strip escaping the east meant risking your life. the museum is still in touch with many of the surviving escapees among them there are doria fees up someone to help to alleviate berlin by giving her a swiss passport wearing
a game courthouse stands directly on the former death strip. the design traces the course of the berlin wall diagonally through the bill. leaving the area void and creating a large interior atrium. idea that the it s interesting that this design was the only one submitted in the competition that decided to take the berlin wall as its cue for how to define and shape the interior so it s going to be a building that is actually shaped around the wall with one does i m. home bold. enough center of the new spring a campus will be the digital newsroom. with the music it ll be like an empty theater with multiple levels it ll be allowed in full of energetic journalists so here on what was once the death strip view of a place full of life that has been probably the most lively part of berlin building . the german pavilion under the moves celebrates twenty eight years since the fall
virtually unparalleled freedoms in the one nine hundred ninety s. the city became had. precious space in prime locations was quickly snapped up by developers. a building boom followed the former death strip was gradually transformed giving way to offices shopping malls and luxury apartments. only a few traces of the berlin move remaining twenty eight years ago many were keen to remove all evidence of a decades long division the memorial site had been ours tasa is the last trip of war where visitors can get a sense of the full extent of the border fortifications that wants to hear. the curators of the german trevelyan feel the memorial site in berlin works well. with annoyance with them they have dared to make a connection between everyday life which still continues here and remembering what it was like in the past which is not so positive and not at all easy there are