Editing Inner German border (section)

{{short description|Border separating East and West Germany, 1949–1990}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox military installation
| name          = Inner German border
| partof        = 
| location      = North and central Germany
| image         = [[File:Halt hier grenze.jpg|300px|alt=A white sign on a post with the German inscription "Halt! Hier Grenze" (Stop! Here border) and below, in smaller letters, "Bundesgrenzschutz" (Federal Border Guard). In the background a wire fence with an open gate, behind that are trees and a watchtower on the skyline.]]
| caption       = Border installations at [[Schlagsdorf]]
| map_type      = 
| latitude      = 
| longitude     = 
| map_size      = 
| map_caption   = 
| type          = Border fortification system
| coordinates   = 
| code          = 
| built         = {{Start date|1945}}
| builder       = {{flag|East Germany}}
| materials     = Steel, concrete
| height        = Up to {{convert|4|m|ft}}
| used          = 1945–1990
| demolished    = 1990
| condition     = Mostly demolished
| ownership     = 
| open_to_public = 
| controlledby  = {{flag|East Germany}}<br>{{flag|West Germany}}
| garrison      = East:{{pb}}
{{flagicon|GDR}} [[Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic]]<br>{{flagicon|GDR}} [[National People's Army]]<br>{{flagicon|GDR}} [[Stasi]]<br>{{flagicon|GDR}} [[Volkspolizei]]{{pb}}West:{{pb}}
{{flagicon|West Germany}} [[Bundesgrenzschutz]]<br>{{flagicon|West Germany}} [[Bundeszollverwaltung]]<br>{{flagicon|Bavaria}} [[Bayerische Grenzpolizei]]<br>{{Army|United Kingdom}}<br>{{flagicon|UK}} [[British Frontier Service]]<br>{{Army|United States}}
| current_commander = 
| commanders    = 
| occupants     = 
| battles       = [[Cold War]]
| events        = 
| image2        = 
| caption2      = 
}}

The '''inner German border''' ({{langx|de|innerdeutsche Grenze}} or ''deutsch–deutsche Grenze''; initially also {{Lang|de|Zonengrenze}}, zonal boundary) was the frontier between the [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]] (GDR, East Germany) and the [[West Germany|Federal Republic of Germany]] (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990. ''De jure'' not including the similar but physically separate [[Berlin Wall]], the border was an irregular L-shaped line, {{convert|1381|km|mi}} long.  It ran south from the [[Baltic Sea]] and then east to the border of [[Protection of Czechoslovak borders during the Cold War|Czechoslovakia]].

It was formally established by the [[Potsdam Agreement]] on 1&nbsp;August 1945 as the boundary between the [[Allied-occupied Germany|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 border guards]] who faced tens of thousands of West German, British and US [[Border guards of the inner German border|guards]] and soldiers.<ref>[[#Faringdon|Faringdon (1986)]], pp. 282–84.</ref> 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]]. Built by the East German government in phases from 1952 to the late 1980s,<ref name="Faringdon, p. 284">[[#Faringdon|Faringdon (1986)]], p. 284.</ref> the fortifications were constructed to stop ''[[Republikflucht]]'', 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.<ref>[[#McDougall|McDougall (2004)]], p. 40.</ref> It caused widespread economic and social disruption on both sides; East Germans living nearby suffered especially draconian restrictions.<ref>[[#Czuczka|Czuczka (2000-01-13)]].</ref>

The better-known Berlin Wall was a physically separate, less elaborate, and much shorter border barrier surrounding [[West Berlin]], more than {{convert|170|km|mi}} to the east of the inner German border. 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&nbsp;July 1990,<ref>[[#TheRecord|''The Record'' (1990-07-02)]].</ref> exactly 45&nbsp;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.<ref>[[#Cramer|Cramer (2008)]], pp. 8–9.</ref>