Borderland Museum Eichsfeld - Touring the Inner German Border with Patrick Hoffmann
In this episode of Radio GDR - the East Germany podcast, we are joined by Patrick Hoffmann, assistant director, pedagogue and historian at Borderland Museum Eichsfeld, one of the more than 20 museums along the former Inner German Border Founded in 1995, the museum sits at the border crossing point Duderstadt-Worbis, which is about 190 kilometers west of Leipzig on the border of Thuringia and Lower Saxony. The museum is comprised of the original buildings of the former border crossing point, which include the original rooms, such as the passport checking rooms and the detention cell, as well the Borderland Trail, a circular hiking path with originally preserved border fortifications. The exhibitions are along the former death strip, today’s “Green Belt,” and deal with different aspects of the German division, focusing on the GDR border regime and the everyday life of East and West Germans living in the border area, as well as the Peaceful Revolution and the border opening (“Fall of the wall”) in 1989. While visiting the museum in person is most definitely recommended, check out the museum's impressive virtual reality tour.