East Germany’s biggest Border crossing Helmstedt-Marienborn
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- Опубликовано: 1 дек 2022
- Helmstedt-Marienborn was the biggest East-German border crossing where millions of vehicles passed each year. This video will give an overview of the site and reveal some of its secrets.
Used and recommended books:
In German but with lots of interesting pictures:
• "Transit Westberlin" - Friedrich Delius & Peter Lapp [amzn.to/3yC7lMM]
• "Die Grenze - Ein deutsches Bauwerk" - Jürgen Ritter & Peter Lapp [amzn.to/3JakCkO]
Only in German, with some pictures:
• "Mit den Autos kommt die Ideologie" - Various [Restricted availability; amzn.to/3FiWR94]
Link to the website of the museum:
gedenkstaette-marienborn.sach...
Picture:
• Checkpoint alpha picture: Günter Mach, Helmstedt, CC BY-SA 2.5 (creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons)
I was stationed their from 1979-1981, It was really amazing duty.....
Many times I traveled between Allied Checkpoints Alpha and Bravo and only dealt with the Soviets at each. Longest I ever waited there was 25 minutes, and I was always relieved that I didn’t have to wait for countless hours like the West Germans and other nationalities did at the DDR-controlled part of GÜSt Marienborn, where they received the inspection equivalent of an anoscopy from the Stasi, as my German friends have described it. Great video!
Thanks for adding your experience from those times!
@@BiggaNigga69He's probably ex-British military.
@@oldmanc2Not probably. The Soviets are the giveaway.
@@cehaem2exactly. There’s even a very interesting rip here on RUclips of an instructional video from the British Army that states exactly that.
@@Mainyehc link please
Thank you. For some time I’ve been searching for ANYTHING related to the DDR that is presented in English. Your channel is great. Keep it up. Thank you.
In the mid to late 1960’s I crossed over the border at this crossing three times on family road trips from England to Poland. As small children, my brother and I were so excited by all the security we encountered at the checkpoints, especially as we knew our parents were smuggling gifts for our Polish family, all hidden in the car! 🥴😎
I live just 15km from there on the western side! Mad to think that this place was once a divide between two worlds! I probably crossed that border within seconds more than hundred times.
Thank you for putting the time in to record such videos. I lived in Germany in the 70's for 6 years and loved every moment. I've always been fascinated with the DDR, Stasi and how people lived on the other side of the wall also the history. Thank you again.
You're welcome!
More people are finally watching your quality videos, so relieved that your work is finally being recognized.
I just found them but agreed
Thank you for this video. For Germans this is just a museum of past times. I live in the "museum" all my life without any hope for future.
Hi I lived in Osterode am Harz in 1985. I traveled to Berlin using this and it brings back memories. Osterode is semi close
To the border and we would drive and all of a sudden have to go left or right because the fence was there sometimes East German border guards were around. I have been back to Germany twice since then but didn’t go East at all.
I hope this channel explodes in popularity.
Great video! It left me wanting more!
Thank you.
Absolutely fascinating.
this channel is a gem i love it... big sub from me
One correction: non-residents of Germany still had to pay the 5 DM fee after 1972.
This is a great channel, I hope you keep going!
the 5DM transit fee was not lifted for non german travellers, I had to pay it many times when I travelled by train from West Germany to West Berlin, also via Helmsted Marienborn stations. And there was also a minimal compulsory change of money if you wanted to do a daily trip from West to East Berlin, (via the famous Checkpoint Charlie opened to non German citizens! ). Anyway your page and videos remind me of my youth, thanks for this! it was forbidden to bring back the rest of DDR Marks at the end of the day... So I often bought absolutely useless things and had many beers instead of giving them back, because at that time you were a rich man with 10 Mark der DDR in your pocket!
Umm as a non german I paid more than once the Transit Visum...
The only land border I've ever crossed personally was USA-Canada and even then I've wondered why border guards with all their supposed professionalism aren't held to a minimum throughput standard like even a 16-year-old grocery cashier with literally one day of training is. In the DDR's case I have to wonder if they had a *maximum* throughput standard.
@@stevej71393DMV is also known as satans ass
So to be clear , you equating buying beer, diapers and Cocoa Puffs with Border Security. Ok thanks
Ive always wondered about the West Berlin Border on the west of the city, near Potsdam, we rarely see pictures or videos made about that side i think
The land border between the two German states was very different from the Berlin Wall.
Why ?
There were the soldiers, The Pass Kontroll, the searching in cars etc etc
Maybe in Berlin it was faster due to restricted space maybe, say 1 hour in Berlin and between 1 hour and a half and 3 hours at land border driving to Eisenach or Berlin.
You answered your own question. In addition, land mines were mainly at the border between FRG and GDR rather than the death strip along the Belin Wall.@@philwanadoo7435
Fascinating, but why no mention of the railroad border crossing?
The western allied who occupied western germany didnt recognised GDR as a state so they didnt recognise the border as a border between two country. The western occupiers only recognised soviet occupation forces and thats why they didnt built any big border infrastructure.
According to the American/ French/ British forces, there was no border so no need for border guards.
That is nonsense. GDR was a member of the UNO and the US had an embassy in East Berlin. But both German were still under Allied occupation and since their agreements were sign prior to FRG/GDR being founded and both states were still not 100% souvereign, they were not part of the agreements. That why VoPo and Grenztruppen had no jurisdiction over allied troops on the transit routes and in Berlin.
It was West Germany that did not recognise the border in full.
Western Army officers could enter East Germany, thanks to Allied agreements. Much to the annoyance of the Stasi, who tried to spy and tailgate the officer's cars. When confronted by the Volkspolizei, the officers said: "Take us to a Soviet Officer.", who was always very friendly and cooperative. The Soviets officers could also travel into West Germany, so both sides benifited from this agreement.
You are right that the Americans first did not recognize East Germany, leading to the Berlin crisis of 1961. Where a US diplomat was denied access to East Berlin by the Vopo. Later the Americans recognized East Germany to prevent further incidents.
@@mardiffv.8775 my understanding was that any Allied military regardless of rank could freely enter the East, same for the Soviets in reverse. True or not?
@@daddybeagleaz907 You are almost correct, Western officers could enter the East/ DDR. Due to the Potsdam treaty. Always followed by Stasi agents, who wore the most grotesk disguises. Like sunglasses, which no ordinary DDR citizen could gets his hands on. And fake moustaches. The Stasi was sometimes shaken off by just crossing a railway crossing, moments before the barriers closed.
When stopped by the Volkspolizei, the officers always asked in German to be taken to a Soviet officers. Who was always very friendly and helpful. Much to the frustration of the Volkspolizei.
Soviet officers also drove into West Germany, on reconnaissance. So both East and West benefitted from this system.
I passed by train in 1972 without any bother except a long delay.
By train you don't have a search of the car...
@@philwanadoo7435 I entered the DDR by car from Czechoslovakia in 1977 and I had no bother.
@@jean6872 from Czechoslovakia
Primary invasion points of the WARSAW PACT forces , along with the Fulda Gap
interesting, are all these buildings still sitting there today ? as it was back then..
yes its a museum now (Gedenkstätte Marienborn)
Half of Marienborn has been preserved as an outside museum. The rest is an auto and truck rest area. The allied Checkpoint Alpha building several hundred metres prior to Marienborn is now a Zollamt. (customs office)
Was there a giant wall separating the two Germany’s? Or just checkpoints?
It was mainly a fence and a limited number of checkpoints. Walls were mostly built at high populated areas. Feel free to also check the video "The East German Border Installations & Berlin Wall" on this channel.
Google "Iron Curtain". It was much more than just a fence between the Germanies. You think people could walk "around" from East to West Germany?
@@mathisnotforthefaintofheart I don’t know; I haven’t seen any pictures or videos of the borders besides the Berlin Wall. We all know that one, but what about the giant line between east and west?
@@hockeypnc3 The was a (mostly) double fence all the way from the Baltic to Greece (with Bulgaria). The Curtain separated the entire East European countries from the West. So not only East Germany, but also countries like Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria were behind the Curtain. They equally could not cross the border to the Western countries (i.e. Austria, Yugoslavia, Greece). The first breach in the Curtain was not because of the Berlin Wall (November 9 1989) but because Hungary opened up the border with Austria earlier that year. (After mass protests and a delipidating USSR)
There were also massive minefields that had to be cleared out after the ending of the Soviet Union and the dismantling of the Berlin Wall.
Also, was that a "passport conveyor belt" I saw...?
Wow!
Interesting video!
👍👍👍
Are you Dutch or German?
he's both
@@isaacs8783 Interesting. His accent in English is typically Dutch, hence my question. Thanks for the answer.
@@yagi3925 He also pronounces German with a very strong Dutch accent.
@@boink800 You'd probably think that my German is from Mars, it's rather bad 🙂
All that anxiety & effort and now it no longer matters. History cobwebs.
I wonder how the former employees/members of the military/former Stasi employees think about how it's all sitting there as a museum. Do any of them miss working there. Do they miss the GDR/DDR? I wonder.
Do I hear a Dutch accent in the narration?
Dutch accent?
The narrator is indeed Dutch.
West Germany=California, East Germany=Detroit; needless to say, the border fortifications underlined the fact that Communism sucked.
Traveling from east germany to west germany .is just like watching black and white tv to 8k lcd tv.
You need a lot of ordnance to keep people out who want to exchange fruits of your hard labour to green paper pieces
Thanks for your work! do you have an email for contact?
You can find my email address in the 'About' tab.
@@eastgermanyinvestigated found it only know, thanks!