Where
once 1,000 kilometers of deadly mines, attack dogs and fences separated
families and friends, wild flowers and hiking trails now welcome all comers.
From a time when sworn enemies stared across this deadly no-man’s land at one
another, visitors today are invited to look, remember and to help prevent the
failures of the past from reoccurring.
A new
exhibition that opened Dec. 6 at the Point Alpha Memorial, one of the so-called
“hottest spots in the Cold War” along the former inter-German border east of Fulda, pays tribute to the steely resolve and vigilance of
Americans, Germans and their allies in the struggle to preserve democracy and
prevent Soviet expansion into Western Europe.
Calling Point Alpha “the point of the spear of freedom,” Col.
Ray Graham, U.S. Army Garrison Hessen/Wiesbaden
commander, described the tensions that existed along the former East-West
border when he joined the military. “When I enlisted in the Army in 1977, the
Cold War was very frigid.” Dissident crackdowns and Soviet persecution were
commonplace.
“Like most U.S. Soldiers in 1977, I knew where and what the Fulda Gap was and its significance. It was the corridor
George Patton’s 3rd Army had used to drive into the heart of Nazi Germany,”
said Graham. “And we knew it was also the corridor the
While
Graham told the assembled guests, including state ministry members from both Hessen and Thuringia, at the
exhibition opening that he “did not have the honor of patrolling with those
troopers on the border,” he did see firsthand the handiwork of the Soviet
machinery in the form of “minefields, fences and guard posts, all designed to
keep their citizens from entering West Germany,” during a visit to the border
near Wildflecken as a young specialist stationed in Würzburg with the 3rd Infantry Division. “On behalf of
those who did, I salute you for your efforts to preserve this site, its memory
and their legacy.
“This
we’ll defend — that was the message the
“Point
Alpha is more than a museum; it’s an educational stronghold,” said Berthold Dücker, chairman of the
Point Alpha Association, saying that remembering the events that occurred
during the Cold War, including the 100,000 or so American Soldiers of the 11th
and 14th Armored Cavalry Regiments who served along the border, is vital for
future generations.
“I don’t
know what would have happened if the Americans had not been here at one of the
hottest points in the Cold War — or if they had simply lost interest and gone
home,” said Dücker, who as a young man was one of
those trapped behind the Iron Curtain on the East German side of the border.
Dücker escaped to the West in 1964 armed
with only a pair of pliers to check for mines and to cut a hole in the barbed
wire fencing.
“Here stood political systems and world views across from one
another,” said Professor Dr. Hermann Schäfer,
ministerial director of the Federal Office of Culture and Media, “which along
with Berlin was the hottest point of the Cold War.”
Like some
young Americans serving in today’s Army, recent surveys across Germany have
shown that many German youths are completely unaware of the Cold War tensions
that existed a mere two decades ago and the historical events that eventually
brought an end to the Cold War, said Stefan Grüttner,
director of Hessen’s State Chancellory.
Exhibits like Point Alpha are critical in informing young people and future
generations about how important it is for nations to continue to work together
to resolve issues, particularly with ever-increasing globalization.
“A war
was won here without a single shot being fired. And that is a credit to the
dedication of our American friends having been here,” said Grüttner.
Preventing
“historical falsehoods” is another important feature of the Point Alpha
Memorial, said Gerold Wucherpfennig,
minister for Federal and European Opportunities and director of the Thuringia State Chancellory,
decrying recent cases of people denying various aspects of World War II and
Cold War history.
Unlike a
few decades ago, today visitors to Point Alpha are free to wander in the Rhoen hills between what was once East
and West, to enjoy a picnic along the former border and to read about those who
risked life and limb in an attempt to escape from a brutally repressive regime.
Exhibits
in the “House on the Border” and at the Point Alpha Memorial depict the ongoing
struggle between former World War II Allies in the four decades leading up to
the disintegration of the former border in late 1989. Besides getting a feel
for what it must have been like to stand guard over what Winston Churchill
called in 1946 “an Iron Curtain descending across the continent,” visitors can
get a close-up look at how U.S. Soldiers lived and worked at the remote
outpost.
They can
also follow in the footsteps of former world leaders Mikhail Gorbachev, Helmut
Kohl and George Herbert Walker Bush who were recognized for their efforts to
help end the Cold War with the Point Alpha Award at the site in 2005.
The Point
Alpha Memorial and House on the Border are located between the towns of Rasdorf and Geisa about 20
kilometers east of
To
arrange for tours or school groups to spend the night in the former barracks at
Point Alpha and to get a living history lesson call civ
(06651) 919 030.
Members
of the Artus Atelier who designed the new Point Alpha
exhibit said Soldiers and former Soldiers of the 11th and 14th Armored Cavalry
Regiments or U.S. Constabulary who served at Point Alpha, in