Cold War and Culture

Friday evening I headed to Fulda, Germany with a friend of mine and his wife. We stayed at his daughter's home. On Saturday we headed out to visit Point Alpha on the old East-West German border. After visiting my friends old radar installation that he commanded in the late 1980's we drove into "East" Germany. The first village we visited was Birx which was located right on the border. Due to this fact this small village was completely fenced in and the residence had special passes to leave and enter the town. Only residence could enter the town. No relatives or friends from elseware could enter through the village check point. After that we headed to Point Alpha. This place was significant during the later stages of the Cold War due to the Fulda Gap area of Germany. Both sides felt that this is where the amour battle would begin. The East Germans erected a tower on the hilltop and the Americans built one right on the other side of the divide. The area was preserved to be a reminder of how things were during that time. They still have a section of the "Iron Curtain" that defined split between East and West. The vehicle patrol roads are still in the ground in most sections of the old border. While at the Point Alpha museum we ran into a former East German who served in the Army. He and my friend talked about the "good old days" and how much things have changed for the better. It was really cool to talk with him about what it was like living in the former East Germany. Some of the most interesting things I saw while driving around were the change in road conditions between the former sides. In "West" Germany the roads are good but show age. As soon as you cross into "East" Germany there are newly paved roads. This is due to the tax paid by former West German states to help in the reunification. In the villages on the East side there are beautiful houses that are as if you back in the 1940's and then right next to them there are delapidated houses. These houses have no known owner and the state cannot do anything to them until the rightful owner is figured out. So you have these scars from the former times in every town you drive through. After we finished Point Alpha we headed to Eisenach. There we visited the former castle that served as Martin Luther's hideout where he wrote his 95-point thesis against the Catholic church's stance on indulgences. He also translated the bible into the German language from this castle.