Inner German border

barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic, enclosing West Berlin (1961–1989)

The Elbe () is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Germany before flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, northwest of Hamburg. Its total length is .

Lauenburg (), or Lauenburg an der Elbe (; ), is a town in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the northern bank of the river Elbe, east of Hamburg. It is overall the southernmost town of Schleswig-Holstein and belongs to the district () of Herzogtum Lauenburg.

municipality of Germany

Ludwigsstadt is a town in the district of Kronach, in the Upper Franconian region of Bavaria, Germany.

Töpen () is a municipality in Upper Franconia in the district of Hof in Bavaria in Germany.

municipality of Germany

Rühen () is a municipality in the district of Gifhorn, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The Municipality Rühen includes the villages of Brechtorf, Eischott and Rühen.

Büchen () is a municipality in the district of Lauenburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is seat of the Amt ("collective municipality") Büchen.

town in Thuringia, Germany

Schwanheide is a municipality in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

Probstzella is a municipality in the district Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, in Thuringia, Germany.

1961 Cold War incident in divided Berlin

Gerstungen () is a municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany. It is 42 kilometers southwest of the geographic center of Germany, located in Niederdorla. In July 2018 the former municipalities of Marksuhl and Wolfsburg-Unkeroda were merged into Gerstungen.

Gefell () is a town in the Saale-Orla-Kreis district, in Thuringia, Germany.

Gudow is a municipality in the district of Lauenburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

Wildeck () is a municipality in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany lying right at the boundary with Thuringia, 54 km southeast of Kassel.

Herleshausen () is a municipality in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in Hesse, Germany.

border which separated the territories of the FRG and the GDR

275px|thumb|A Deutsche Reichsbahn (East Germany)|Deutsche Reichsbahn official inspects the escape tunnel beneath [[Berlin Wollankstraße station in January 1962.]] 275px|thumb|Movement (1977–1986) Republikflucht (; German for "desertion from the republic", ) was the colloquial term in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) for illegal emigration to the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), West Berlin, and non-Warsaw Pact countries. The official term was Ungesetzlicher Grenzübertritt ("unlawful border crossing"). Republikflucht applied to both the 3.5 million Germans who migrated l

East German military force

Oebisfelde () is a town and a former municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Oebisfelde-Weferlingen.

border checkpoint at the Inner German border

thumb|BGS Federal Eagle (Bundesadler) worn from 1952 until 1976

1979 event

Böseckendorf () is a village in the Teistungen municipality in the district of Eichsfeld in Germany. It became famous during the Cold War for two mass escapes in 1961 and 1963 involving a total of 65 inhabitants – a quarter of the village's population – across the heavily fortified inner German border.

a Cold War incident involving an unarmed American T-39 being shot down by a Soviet MiG

crossing point on the border of West Berlin

watchtowers

observation Post overlooking the inner German border

The SM-70 (Splittermine Modell 1970) is an East German directional fragmentation antipersonnel mine developed specifically to combat Republikflucht (defection) across the Inner German Border (Grenze) into West Germany.

thumb|right|Billmuthausen memorial Billmuthausen was a village in Germany, founded in 1340. It was destroyed by East German authorities in 1978 as it stood too close to the Inner German border (part of the larger "Iron Curtain"), the border between the post-war states of East and West Germany. It lay in the extreme south of Thuringia in the Heldburger Land in the district of Hildburghausen, only away from the Thuringian-Bavarian border. In January 1965, the authorities destroyed the small village church. In September 1978, the last family left the village, after which all the buildings in the

German journalist (1911-1961)