The Grenzlandmuseum Eichsfeld is a museum in the buildings of the former GDR border crossing point Performance on the former inner-German border, today in Thuringia at the national border Lower Saxony located.
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| Grenzlandmuseum Eichsfeld | ||
| district | Eichsfeld | |
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| Tourist info | 49 36 07 19 71 12 Grenzlandmuseum.de | |
no tourist info on Wikidata:  | ||
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background
Right through that Eichsfeld the inner-German border ran in the 40 years of German-German division. The one between the Lower Saxon village of Gerblingerode, now part of Duderstadt, and the B247 running through the Thuringian town of Teistungen was initially closed in the course of the division of Germany into occupation zones, and in 1964 the border was even blown up. Less than 10 years later, however, in 1973, as a result of the basic treaty between the Federal Republic and the GDR, a border crossing point was reopened at this point, officially named Duderstadt / Worbis. From 1973 to 1989 the border crossing was possible for the Eichsfeld population as part of the small border traffic, which was used by almost 6 million travelers in the 16 years.
During the German-German division, there was a vantage point at the end of the village of Gerblingerode on the west German side, which was often visited, especially by school groups as part of political education. A sausage stand and later a hotel catered for day trippers and border crossing travelers on the west German side.
The border crossing was opened for GDR citizens on November 10, 1989, and also for West Germans at Christmas 1989. For days, car avalanches rolled into Duderstadt from east to west, crowds of people stood on the B247 and greeted the GDR citizens.
Soon after the opening of the border, local initiatives began to campaign for the preservation of the border fortifications as a place of reminder and reminder. In 1995 the Grenzlandmuseum was opened in the buildings of the former border fortifications, then completely redesigned and redesigned in 2010. Since then there has been a permanent exhibition in the main building, supplemented by numerous technical exhibits on the outside area and another exhibition in the former mill tower. The Grenzlandweg and an educational facility complete the museum.
getting there
By train and bus
The nearest train station is in LeinefeldeFrom there you have a connection with the bus line 1 (express bus) Duderstadt - Dingelstädt, bus stop Teistungenburg. Of Goettingen, the closest long-distance train station, can be reached by bus Duderstadt and from there on to Teistungen.
For supra-regional travel, see the information in the travel guide Goettingen.
In the street
Of Goettingen or coming from the A 7, take the B 27 to Ebergötzen-Ost, then change to the B 446 to Duderstadt; then continue to Teistungen on the B 247. A total of approx. 30 km.
Coming from the Harz you drive from Herzberg on the B 27 to Gieboldehausen and then change to the B 247 to Duderstadt and on to Teistungen. Approx. 25 km.
Who from further away from the southeast from direction Leipzig or if you want to travel southwest from Kassel, take the A 38 and leave the motorway at the Leinefelde-Worbis junction. From here it's about 13 km on the B 247 in the direction of Worbis, then Duderstadt.
By bicycle
The museum is located directly on the European long-distance cycle route Iron Curtain Trail (EuroVelo 13).
In addition, the cycle route 45 of the cycle route network leads Golden mark past the museum.
On foot
From the nearby Eichsfeld hiking trail, a cross-connection to Duderstadt leads past the Grenzlandmuseum.
mobility
Dynamic cardsThere are a large number of parking spaces directly at the Grenzlandmuseum. The museum itself is barrier-free, and the outdoor facilities are also easy to walk through. However, the Grenzlandweg is only partially accessible for people with reduced mobility.
Frontier Museum
In the former control buildings of the border crossing is now the Grenzlandmuseum Eichsfeld, in which in particular the situation of the split Eichsfeld during the German-German division is shown. There are also plenty of exhibits from the stocks of the border troops.
1 Grenzlandmuseum Eichsfeld, Duderstädter Strasse 5, 37339 Teistungen. Tel.: 49 36 07 19 71 12, Fax: 49 36 07 19 79 98, Email: info@ Grenzlandmuseum.de. Open: Mon closed, Tue-Sun 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.Price: adults € 4, reduced € 3..
main building
The permanent exhibition is chronologically devoted to the history of the German-German division using the example of Eichsfeld, but also refers again and again to the entire German-German event since World War II. After passing through a cabinet of mirrors, which reflects the situation at the comparable borders that still exist around the world, the historical background of the division of Germany is first illustrated. Then you go through an originally preserved passport control passage before the chronologically structured passage through the 40 years of division begins. Numerous exhibits from the history of the Border crossing point (GÜST), Uniforms and parts of the border installations, text, image and also sound documents provide information, the intensity of which you can choose yourself.
If you wanted to go through all the video and audio documents, you would need a lot of time for the museum, which holds many contemporary witness documents and more than 200 film documents. But also for visitors who want to go through a museum more quickly, there are enough exciting things that are designed to be clear and easy to grasp.
A large part of the exhibition is devoted to the special situation of the residents in the former restricted zone, including the forced evacuation of the Action vermin in 1952 and the Action consolidation in 1961, in which numerous residents of the towns near the border were expelled from their homes within a very short time. A separate room is also dedicated to the escape of 53 residents from Böseckendorf, who later moved to the vicinity of Norten-Hardenberg resettled in the newly founded Neu-Böseckendorf.
In the last room of the exhibition there is not only a comprehensive video but also three computers that provide access to the museum's digital archive.
A separate room on the ground floor of the main building is also intended for special exhibitions, while the former holding cells are in the building's basement. Other basement rooms are used to store the museum's archive material. At the museum's ticket office, you can get detailed information on the museum's topics and smaller souvenirs such as model cars from the Trabant brand.
Access to the mill tower, in which there are further exhibition rooms, is only possible through the museum building, behind which a path leads past the sheds with former border vehicles.
Outdoor area
2 On the outdoor area of the museum, which is only accessible as part of a museum visit, some vehicles of the former border troops and the helicopters of the Federal Border Guard are particularly worth mentioning.
Mill tower
3 In the former tower of an old mill, which was converted into a control tower as part of the border expansion in the 1950s, the bottom floor is dedicated to the Green Belt, the nature conservation project on the former border strip. A wide variety of exhibits from the life of the border guards can be found on the upper floors, including typical accommodation. Some models show the different stages of expansion of the border fortifications over the time of the German-German division.
Grenzlandweg
The Grenzlandmuseum is complemented by a well-preserved and signposted one Grenzlandweg, on which the various barriers can be traced. After visiting the mill tower, you leave the outdoor area of the museum and follow the cycle path in the direction of Duderstadt for about 100 m, and then continue uphill to the left on the former Kolonnenweg. Shortly afterwards you pass them 4 Hahlebrücke, which was massively secured at border times so that the small stream could not be used for escape.
Parallel to the Kolonnenweg you can see the remains or reconstructed sections of the former border installations as well as observation bunkers, and the vehicle barrier ditch has been preserved. At the top of the hill you will find the reconstructed system of a dog kennel, in which the guard dogs used to run free. One of the gates that the GDR built into the border fences of the time for so-called special cases is also integrated into these border installations. Since these gates only appeared very rarely, the gate that has been preserved is a real rarity, which, together with the re-connected original border lighting, also contributes to the authenticity of the earlier border strip.
The renovated former 5 You can visit the watchtower of the GDR border troops on the Pferdeberg. From the almost completely equipped observation room at the top of the tower you have an excellent view of the former border strip and can thus authentically understand the visibility of the border guards at that time. The associated border installations such as earth bunkers and metal mesh fences also contribute in this part of the borderland museum to an impressive, sometimes depressing empathy for the situation at that time. The tower can only be visited in guided groups by prior arrangement, also because of the steep metal stairs that have to be climbed. By reactivating the old power cables to the tower, it is now technically possible to illuminate the entire border on the Pferdeberg with the two searchlights and to put the original border lighting back into operation.
If you now follow the circular path over to the edge of the wad and then along it, you will pass the information board for the so-called "Grenz Incident on Horses Mountain" from 1964, on which the attempted border shifts at that time are explained.
If you like, you can now follow the other Grenzlandweg, the one over the restaurant To the beautiful view and leads along the observation tower in the immediate vicinity on the western side of the former border line and includes some exhibits from the former western border troops - customs and the Federal Border Guard. Finally, you can make a small loop to the former border installations on the outskirts of Gerblingerode or return directly to the museum from the starting point of the Kolonnenweg on the main road. Here you can still see the roadblocks that have been preserved along the way.
The total distance of the Grenzlandweg from the museum to the watchtower on the Pferdeberg, over the Schöne Aussicht and to the former West German border clearance building is about 6 km, without the detour to the buildings on the outskirts of Gerblingerode about 5 km.
There is an audio guide for the Grenzlandweg, which can be borrowed at the museum ticket office for a fee.
kitchen
1 Grenzland Grill 10 ° East, Duderstädter Strasse 5, 37339 Teistungen. Tel.: 49 36 071 91 07 42, Fax: 49 36 071 91 07 44, Email: info@ Grenzlandgrill-eichsfeld.de. Open: Open Tue - Sun 10.30 a.m. - 8 p.m.. Small grill snack on the site of the former border control systems. You should try Ossiburger, Ossi toast and GDR schnitzel ...
2 Forest restaurant to the beautiful view, On the Pferdeberg, 37115 Duderstadt-Gerblingerode. Tel.: 49 55 27 68 10. Open: Tue - Sat from 11 a.m., Sun from 10 a.m., warm meals Tue - Sun 11.30 a.m. - 2 p.m., 5.30 p.m. - 8.30 p.m.. Home-style cooking and home-baked cakes attract not only hikers on the Grenzlandpfad, but also excursionists by car to the small forest restaurant on top of the Pferdeberg, which is a bit old in terms of the premises, but really offers a beautiful view over the former border area .
accommodation
1 Victor's Residenz-Hotel Teistungenburg ****, Klosterweg 6 - 7, 37339 Teistungen. Tel.: 49 360 71 840, Fax: 49 360 71 84 444, Email: [email protected]. . Pool and sports world, sauna area. The hotel is located on the site of the former Teistungenburg across from the Grenzlandmuseum, and can be reached quickly via a pedestrian bridge over the main road.
Further accommodations can be found in the nearby one Duderstadt.
trips
If you are looking for more excursion destinations in the area as part of a visit to the Grenzlandmuseum, you will find some interesting half-timbered towns:
- It’s less than 5 km Duderstadt, the half-timbered town in the lower area and the center of the former West German part of the lower area.
- Is also worth seeing Dingelstädt in the upper range.
