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Inner German border
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==East Germany's sea border== {{multiple image | align = right | image1 = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-35031-0001, Rügen, Boot der Grenzpolizei.jpg | width1 = 248 | alt1 = Boat travelling through choppy water leaving a large wake behind it. Cliffs and forested hills can be seen on the shoreline in the background. | caption1 = ''Deutsche Grenzpolizei'' (GDR border police) patrol boat off the East German island of [[Rügen]], December 1955 | image2 = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-42998-0003, Rügen, Grenzpolizei der DDR.jpg | width2 = 120 | alt2 = Two armed men, one with a rifle with a bayonet attached and the other carrying a submachine gun, walking along the water's edge below a line of cliffs. | caption2 = Armed GDR border police patrolling a beach on the island of Rügen, 1956 }} The inner German border system also extended along the Baltic coast, dubbed the "blue border" or sea border of the GDR. The coastline was partly fortified along the east side mouth of the river [[Trave]] opposite the West German port of Travemünde. Watchtowers, walls and fences stood along the marshy shoreline to deter escape attempts and the water was patrolled by high-speed East German boats. The continuous line of the inner German border ended at the peninsula of Priwall, still belonging to Travemünde, but already on the east side of the Trave. From there to [[Boltenhagen]], along some 15 km of the eastern shore of the Bay of Mecklenburg, the GDR shoreline was part of the restricted-access "protective strip" or ''Schutzgebiet''. Security controls were imposed on the rest of the coast from Boltenhagen to [[Altwarp]] on the Polish border, including the whole of the islands of [[Poel]], [[Rügen]], [[Hiddensee]], [[Usedom]] and the peninsulas of [[Darß]] and [[Wustrow, Nordvorpommern|Wustrow]].<ref name="Times-Baltic" /> The GDR implemented a variety of security measures along its Baltic coastline to hinder escape attempts. Camping and access to boats was severely limited<ref name="Times-Baltic" /> and 27 watchtowers were built along the Baltic coastline.<ref>{{cite web|title=Der Turm|url=http://www.ostseegrenzturm.net/derturm.htm|publisher=[[#Grenzturm|Grenzturm e.V]], Kühlungsborn (Baltic Border Tower in Kühlungsborn [monument's website])|accessdate=24 October 2009|archive-date=23 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723233439/http://www.ostseegrenzturm.net/derturm.htm|url-status=usurped}}</ref> If a suspected escape attempt was spotted, high-speed patrol boats would be dispatched to intercept the fugitives. Armed patrols equipped with powerful mobile searchlights monitored the beaches.<ref>{{cite web|title=Geschichte|url=http://www.ostseegrenzturm.net/geschichte.htm|publisher=[[#Grenzturm|Grenzturm e.V]], Kühlungsborn (Baltic Border Tower in Kühlungsborn [monument's website])|accessdate=24 October 2009|archive-date=2 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302180117/http://www.ostseegrenzturm.net/geschichte.htm|url-status=usurped}}</ref> Escapees aimed for the western (West German) shore of the Bay of Mecklenburg, a Danish [[lightvessel|lightship]] off the port of [[Gedser]], the southern Danish islands of [[Lolland]] and [[Falster]], or simply the international shipping lanes in the hope of being picked up by a passing freighter. The Baltic Sea was, however, an extremely dangerous escape route. In all, 189 people are estimated to have died attempting to flee via the Baltic.<ref name="Dennis">[[#Dennis|Dennis (2000)]], p. 100.</ref> Some East Germans tried to escape by jumping overboard from East German ships docked in Baltic harbours. So many East Germans attempted to flee this way in Danish ports that harbourmasters installed extra life-saving equipment on quaysides where East German vessels docked. The GDR's government responded by stationing armed ''[[Transportpolizei]]'' (''Trapos'') on passenger ships to deal forcefully with escape attempts. On one occasion in August 1961, the ''Trapos'' caused an international incident in the Danish port of Gedser, when they beat up a would-be escapee on the quayside and opened fire, hitting a Danish boat in the harbour. The next day, thousands of Danes turned out to protest against "''Vopo'' ([[Volkspolizei]]) methods." The "boat-jumpers" were eventually stopped by further restricting the already limited travel rights of the GDR's population.<ref>[[#Shears|Shears (1970)]], pp. 49–50.</ref>
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