You’ve been reading along—or maybe you just came across this little island in the vast virtual ocean—and now you want to see these places for yourself? Now you can! Find out more. AFTER THE WALL: DISCOVER GERMANY’S HIDDEN HEARTLANDThis special tour [dates TBA] will take you to the Green Belt—the nature preserve that has been… Read more See for yourself!
The next few posts will be about my visits with people in Kella, population plus minus 500. When Germany was divided after WWII, Kella ended up in the 500-meter Schutzstreifen (“protective zone”) right next to the border strip, which meant that its residents had to put up with considerable restrictions on everyday life, imposed by… Read more Visiting
Today’s excerpt from Chapter 8 also takes place in Rüterberg, the little village on the German-German border that was doubly fenced-in. If you missed last week’s posting on why, you can catch up here. In today’s excerpt, find out about the border violation committed by the former mayor and his wife, and what it was like to… Read more A border violation
I had hoped to make it to Point Alpha on the scorching day of the phantom villages, but an unsuccessful shortcut on a hiking trail plus the sweltering heat made that less likely as the day wore on. I had stopped to cross-reference the GPS route with my paper map when three men in athletic… Read more Topography and history, and Cold War flashbacks
