Border pillar no. 940, which was removed in 1990 during the dismantling of the border barriers (fences, signaling systems, observation towers, vehicle barrier ditches, etc.) along the almost 1400-kilometer-long inner-German border, which was strictly guarded by the GDR border troops, was recently replaced by a new steel pillar so that the former border line would not be forgotten. The border with a death strip has become a peaceful strip of land: the "Green Belt".

Between the Eckerwehr and the former Altfeld settlement, the Ecker bends to the right and flows to the mill village of Abbenrode in the northeast. The inner-German border, which runs in the middle of the Ecker in the northern Harz, leads from this border area along the "International Path", which is signposted as the Harz Border Path after the border was opened. The border pillar, painted in black, red and gold and bearing the GDR coat of arms, has the number 940, protrudes 2 meters from the ground, weighs around 280 kilograms and stands on the Harz border path between Eckertal and Abbenrode around 200 meters south of the Altfeld information point, where the mill hiking trail begins. To the north of this location there was a wooden GDR observation tower.
nordharz-portal.de/ddr-grenzsaeule-am-eckerknick-erinnert-an-den-verlauf-der-innerdeutschen-grenze

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riese&müller 🚲 🙂

June 12, 2025

The "Green Belt" the former border to the GDR is a must-see

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Elevation 300 m

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Wednesday 24 December

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Location: Bad Harzburg, Goslar, Harz Mountains, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

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