Editing Inner German border (section)

===Abandonment of the border===
[[File:Pferdsdorf-Spichra 1990 Border 8 1.jpg|right|thumb|150px|alt=A patrol road, made of two parallel rows of perforated concrete blocks, performs a steep descent into a valley. To the right, running parallel to the road, is a continuous fence. The road and fence continue into the distance, crossing fields that are dusted with a light sprinkling of snow, and ascending another hillside on the far side of valley. Dark forests loom in the distance.|The abandoned border in Thuringia, December 1990]]
The border fortifications were progressively torn down and eventually abandoned in the months following its opening. Dozens of new crossings were opened by February 1990, and the guards no longer carried weapons or made much effort to check travellers' passports.<ref>[[#JacksonJO|Jackson (1990-02-12)]].</ref> The guards' numbers were rapidly reduced; half were dismissed within five months of the opening.<ref name=Koenig>[[#Koenig|Koenig (1990-04-22)]].</ref> On 1&nbsp;July 1990 the border was abandoned and the ''Grenztruppen'' were officially abolished;<ref name="Rottman, p. 58"/> all but 2,000 of them were dismissed or transferred to other jobs.

The [[Bundeswehr]] gave the remaining border guards and other ex-NVA soldiers the task of clearing the fortifications, which was completed only in 1994. The scale of the task was immense, involving both the clearing of the fortifications and the rebuilding of hundreds of roads and railway lines.<ref name="Rottman, p. 61">[[#Rottman|Rottman (2008)]], p. 61.</ref> A serious complication was the presence of mines along the border. Although the 1.4&nbsp;million mines laid by the GDR were supposed to have been removed during the 1980s, it turned out that 34,000 were unaccounted for.<ref>[[#Freytag|Freytag (1996)]], p. 230.</ref> A further 1,100&nbsp;mines were found and removed following reunification at a cost of more than DM&nbsp;250&nbsp;million,<ref>[[#TheWeekinGermany|''The Week in Germany'' (1996-05-13)]], p. 13.</ref> in a programme that was not concluded until the end of 1995.<ref>[[#Thorson|Thorson (1995-11-11)]].</ref>

The border clearers' task was aided unofficially by German civilians from both sides of the former border who scavenged the installations for fencing, wire and blocks of concrete to use in home improvements. Much of the fence was sold to a West German scrap-metal company. Environmental groups undertook a programme of re-greening the border, planting new trees and sowing grass seeds to fill in the clear-cut area along the line.<ref name=Koenig />