Behrungen border memorial sites
An ensemble of relics of the former "
Iron Curtain" in
Germany, i.e. the border between East (
GDR) and West (
FRG) during the
Cold War, now the border between Thuringia and Bavaria.
There are two GDR border watchtowers (now havens for bats and thus not accessible for visitors), remains/reconstructions of various border fortifications, a former border guard vehicle, border markers, and in the town of Behrungen (Thuringia) itself the buildings of the former border police barracks.
At the border a stone with a plaque marks the spot were a 10-year-old boy found a left-over landmine in 2001 – a dangerous late find of such a deadly relic! Fortunately neither he nor anyone else got hurt.
The open-air sites are freely accessible at all times.
Location: in the south of
Germany, between Rappershausen (Bavaria – with a former border information point), Behrungen and Berkach (Thuringia), some 10-15 miles (20-25 km) south of Meiningen. The main open-air museum part is about a mile east of Behrungen, off Römhilder Straße (K2529). A rather forlorn looking old watchtower can be found right by the road between Berkach and Sondheim, not far from the A71 motorway.