In and Out of west Berlin When the wall was up

[jimmer]

Say i wanted to travel to berlin when Germany was separated into east and west and before the Berlin wall came down. Were there road and/or rail links with west berlin and west germany that i could use without a border guard checking my documentation? if so, could i use these roads as a free citizen,i.e. without any special permission granted to me, and were they fenced off from the DDR? jim

[Sylday]

Well, it depends whether you're talking about an East German, West German or non-German person. The wall went up to stop East Germans leaving the country, so clearly they couldn't travel freely across the border, though in special circumstances they could. West Germans had more freedom, but almost certainly needed special permits to travel into E Germany, and it was especially difficult for them to travel directly from W to E Berlin. Non-Germans, also, could travel into E Germany (inc E Berlin) but there were passport checks like any other border. One fact that is often forgotten, incidentally, was that the wall went not only between East and West Berlin, but also along the border line between W Berlin and E Germany.

[tartanwiz]

In a word, you couldn't travel across the Iron Curtain or through the Berlin Wall without being checked somewhere.

[sddsddean]

When I lived in London, our twin town was Reinickendorf (one of the boroughs of West Berlin) and we travelled overland there a few times. The first time (about '68) at the border between west and east germany, we had to park up, go into what was effectively a big Nissan hut, hand over all our documents and stuff and about 4 hours later we were allowed to proceed. However, you had to stick to the autobahn that went to Berlin. If you went off it, you could be imprisoned. You guessed; we missed a slip road and ended up asking a Russian tank crew the way to Berlin! By the late 70's, the border post had been modernised. You joined the appropriate lane of traffic (West Germans, Soviet bloc, others etc.) and put all your documents on a little conveyor belt thing. By the time your car got to the booth, all the stuff had been processed and as long as you looked vaguely like your passport photo you were in. There was a huge concrete wall on the East German side of the booths with a gap you had to drive through. This had a massive concrete 'door' which could be activated by any of the booth operators on the west bound side, in case any cars tried to jump the barriers and race for the gap.

[Philtaz]

I was in the former West Germany when the Wall came down, and travelled to Berlin 2 days after(being a Royal Military Policeman we were the only service personnel allowed to travel there whilst events at that time were unfolding). When travelling by road you had to drive to the border with the East, where you entered Checkpoint Alpha. From there you drove on a designated route i.e. The Corridor(from which you could not deviate) to Checkpoint Bravo(you were often followed by VoPo's, the East German Police). At the end of the Corridor you entered Checkpoint Bravo. This is where you were greeted by your Russina counterparts. Once clear of Bravo you were in Berlin. As for rail I only ever did it once and the procedure was similar, though you were given an East German locomotive from Brunswick into Berlin. As far as civilians i don't know of any who entered the former East germany in that manner, the only one's were employed by British Forces Germany(BFG) and entered via the same routes. One or two people did accidentally stray from the Corridor and were never allowed any further access to Berlin by the Commander Land Forces, having incurred his wrath!