Those who come to the border museum for the first time will be surprised to notice the rather narrow grey concrete tower. The inner German border, in reality, not as monstrous as one had thought. The perforated concrete pavement leading to the museum grounds consists of concrete slabs which have resisted tanks and time. They are relics of patrol paths along the border of divided Germany.
On the left side of the parking lot there is the conserved part of the border fence reaching nearly 1.5 km along the foot of the slope. Beyond the fence was „West Germany“. For the most, this was the synonym of unreachable freedom, so near, and yet, so far. Numerous people tried to escape; many succeeded - some did not.
Heinz-Josef Grosse was one who became a victim of the not even officially existing firing order. From the observation deck of the museum you can easily see where he tried to escape on March 29, 1982 with his front-loader. On the road at the top of the hill there is a memorial. The railing is the exact point where the „West“ began. At the railing three customs officers watched helplessly as Heinz Josef Grosse bled to death after being hit by nine bullets from a Kalashnikov rifle. Although he lay beyond the border fence, it was still GDR territory.
The exhibition in honor of Heinz-Josef Grosse is not only dedicated to him but to all victims of the inner German border. There are several examples of self-made devices showing the elaborate but nonetheless desperate attempts in trying to surmount the border fences. But there was not only the metal fence with the automatic shooting device – you will see an authentic reconstruction – which hindered people from escaping into the West. In the exhibition you will also find the exact wording of the ‘firing order’, although always officially disclaimed, which compelled the GDR border soldiers on duty to kill any person trying to cross the border.
On the museum grounds and in the exhibition rooms there are sections of the metal fence. This is where the political Iron Curtain – the term from the theatre was once coined by Goebbels - literally materialized. The meshing of the metal fence is so small that a finger could hardly pass through and its edges are cutting – both for a good reason. Other than fixed devices like border fences, ground observation bunkers and towers, there were also various vehicles and helicopters used for the border security.
Some of them, for example a Soviet “Ural” truck with radar installations or a MI-24 helicopter, not only recall the inner-German border but also show the sphere of influence of Moscow and the Warsaw Pact. A soviet military helicopter of this type crashed in 1983, a year after Heinz-Josef Grosse had been killed, next to the border line between Hohengandern and Witzenhausen. The original front loader used by Heinz Josef. Grosse is standing in the open air section of the museum, as also an ‘Ural’ truck and a MI-24 helicopter. They are old and robust and of long-lasting construction. They might probably be utilized even today. On the contrary, the narrow observation tower is closed for the public due to danger of collapse.
All the vehicles and exhibits were gathered, piece by piece, by the research group ‘Arbeitskreis Grenzinformation e.V.’, which organized immediately after the German reunification. From East and West of the border, people of various professions whose purpose was to preserve the memory of this inhuman inner German border joined together and founded the border museum – the first of its kind in Germany. As early as October 3, 1991, one year after the German reunification, the museum was opened to the public by the research group. On June 17, 1998 – the 45th Memorial Day of the GDR peoples’ uprising – the 220,000th visitor was welcomed in the Border Museum.
Written on March 29, 2007, the 25th memorial day of Heinz-Josef Grosse’s death