Читать книгу Where in the World is the Berlin Wall?. 170 Sites around the World онлайн

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Upgrading the Wall followed in the mid-1960s and was carried out according to detailed plans by the military. After the first and second generations of Wall, the third generation followed. The third generation Wall was made up of slabs of concrete and was 3.4-metres-high. “Grenzmauer 75” (Border Wall 75) followed in the mid-1970s. It was an L-shaped Wall made from steel reinforced concrete and was 3.6-metres-long. This type of Wall had been tested for its stability and insurmountability and served as the primary border installation facing the West.

Diagram showing the border fortifications

© BArch DVW 32 (Kommando der Grenztruppen)/112249, ssss1.

The death strip was 15 to 150-metres-wide and was made up of varying security systems to prevent escape. It was built up from East to West until the end of the 1980s as follows: not far from the East facing “Hinterlandmauer” was a signal fence made up of many electrical wires. If it was touched, an alarm went off. At some points, the fence went half a metre into the ground to prevent people from crawling underneath it. It was lined with floodlights which lit up the death strip and a sand path that went right to the Wall itself. In this way, visibility was always good and the field of fire always visible. Immediately in front of the Wall was the motor vehicle barrier ditch, which was sloped and secured with concrete slabs in such a way that a vehicle would already be halted here. If it did reach the Wall, it would hit the concrete base of the Wall and stabilize it with its own weight. Along the top of the Wall itself was a round pipe which prevented people getting any kind of grip with their hands if they attempted to climb over. At certain weaker points along the border, guard dogs were also put on patrol. The dogs were tied to a wire which ran parallel to the signal fence and could move up and down the length of the wire.