Attention! Border Area – Tracing East-West German history alongside the banks of River Havel

In July 1945 the Potsdam Conference took place at Cecilienhof Country House which marks the end of the World War II. in Europe. With the agreement between the three
victorious powers, the world order shaped after 1945 and was divided into two opposing sides. This eventually led to the construction of the Berlin Wall, running exactly through today’s UNESCO World Heritage Site. The so-called “Iron Curtain” fell 44 years later. On November 9, 1989, thousands of people were either watching or participating in the fall of the Berlin Wall. They went across Glienicker Bridge towards the wall where West and East Berlin celebrated the end of the German division as well as the subsequent German unity one year later. The tour gives an insight into this eventful time and follows the traces of the former borderlines. Glienicke Bridge can be considered as the starting point. It became famous due to the exchange of spies between the Soviet Union and the USA in the midst of the Cold War. The former border strip is still visible in the middle of the bridge, as are the different coats of paint that demonstrate the former division. Going via road Schwanenallee you pass by the Quapphorn with its rebuilt hermitage and the Meierei leading up to the former GDR border tower at the Bertini-Enge. Between 1965 and 1990 there was a central border crossing point for shipping traffic between the GDR and West Berlin. Today only a few remains of the barriers bear evidence to the almost irreconcilable border security system. Eight information boards along the tour remind you of this time and provide impressive background information.