Fri 10 August 2018 - Rade Germany and an old section of Wall

 I have a couple of pictures from a ride I did in Germany last week just local from where we were staying with friends in the small village of Rade in Gifhorn, lower Saxony. The village is tiny and a real farming village that has a forest/woods running along the outer side of the village. I was told this was the old east/west border and if you follow a small dirt track in the woods you will come to an anti tank deployment and if you go just past you will see a piece of the wall and a sentry post still in place alongside. You can also see the usual concrete tyre paths that were laid from one end of the wall to the other in places where there was no road. I was riding my friend Nils Commencal mountain bike which while a bit big was still appreciated immensely as it was good to be out riding.
I went along this path and was surprised how close it actually was, there was trench, anti tank deployements and then a bigger trench with a section of wall and sentry sitting on the far side of the wood. This opened out onto the farmers field on the other side. He had left the section of wall, put down some gravel and there was a nice undercover picnic bench alongside. There were also interp boards on both sides showing how it was in the day with photos of it being dismantled and the plans showing how on the farmers side it was all lights, barbed wire, bunkers etc for a good distance back from the border.
Whilst I am used to being in Berlin etc and seeing the wall and it's divisions etc it was a bit different seeing it in this very rural setting just literally a block or so from where you sleep. A bit more real maybe? I don't know, just a bit of a sombre feeling. This was made all the more so by the farmer giving a wave while feeding his cows who slowed on his way back past to gesture if I was needing anything. Just made me think that only 30 odd years back this would have been a very different place.
Another thing that was noticeable was that the bunker was concrete block and the only door was from the east and the sighting slots were steel reinforced so the was no was you could use one to go west.  Young conscripts were used to man these and the remit was to shoot anyone coming near the border on the western side, east too I imagine if they got that far. I was told if they refused or didn't do it properly they would be imprisoned and have no opportunity at either education or work and most likely repercussions for their family. This only stopped in 1988 I think, when it was opened up.


Jamie