European Railroad Discussion > A Reminder of the Wall between East and West Germany

We spent the night in Braunlage. Paul had told us that there was a branch off of what is now the HSB that went to Braunlage but it was abandoned. In driving from Ilfeld to Braunlage we tried to follow the former right of way which was made easier because of light snow and discovered that the line crossed the former border between East and West Germany. I also noticed a railway bridge still standing at the former border. After checking into the hotels we came back to take a closer look. Much to our amazement although the tracks were gone on both sides the rails were still in right where the border would have been. I had read about the wall before the trip and how intense a fortification it had been. My theory is that the wall was built across the rails without removing them and then as the wall was more heavily fortified it would have been a bigger problem to remove the rails then to just leave them in. When the wall came down, here in December of 1990 according to the big brown sign along the highway 242. The rails were left in. The separation and reunification of Germany intrigues me since the reunification happened in my lifetime. I even work with people who were stationed along the wall in Germany while they were in the US Army before coming to Metro. I took some more pictures than this but the last one summarizes everything, less than thirty years ago we would have been shot at for crossing that same railway bridge that we took our picture on.

Jim 

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Beautiful photos.I thought the wall coming down was about the most significant thing to happen in my life to that stage.Thanks for posting.
Regards,DK

Most of the Wall wasn't a real wall. The concrete "real wall" existed in and around berlin. In the countryside the wall was really a fence of
very stout construction sometimes double and a mine field right behind it. And of course guard towers about every half-mile or so. And
german police dogs  running between the towers restrained by a wire which kept them from being blown up by the mines.

ValvePilot you are right, I used wall but that could be misleading to many. I know some people bash Wiki but the write up on the Inner German Border really covers what went on in it's 45 years of it's existence. Most of the buffer zone along where the wall used to be is now a green belt There are still remnants one of which I just found is not too far from the pictures in this thread Ring der Erinnerung. Also you can look at pictures on Google Maps of this and several other left over places Ring Der Erinnerung Google Map. .It is something that I will probably go take a look at when I return in several years. I searched for this stuff before the trip but missed finding this place.

Jim