Mauergedenkstätte am Groß Glienicker See, memorial

In GDR times, the eastern section of Groß Glienicke belonged to the West Berlin district of Spandau, while the western section with the actual village centre belonged to the German Democratic Republic. The border ran through the middle of Groß Glienicke lake. On the western side, bathers swam in the water up to the GDR border buoys in summer. By contrast, residents on the GDR side were not even able to see the lake due to the barriers and later a wall which was built from 1969 onwards.

To the north of the lake, two concrete segments of the Berlin Wall still bear witness to this period. Since 2014 they have formed the vanishing point of a Wall monument. To the left and right of the fragment, the course of the Berlin Wall is indicated by concrete posts and marked with a double row of cobblestones on the ground. In addition to being guarded by armed border guards, the barrier elements in GDR times included a back-up wall as well as back-up fences, alarm fences, guard dogs, a light strip, a patrol road for motorised patrols and a motor vehicle ditch. The concrete wall itself – with a pipe construction on top to make it difficult to cross – formed the conclusion of this border security system to the west. At certain points, its function was also replaced – or enhanced – by a close-meshed expanded metal fence that was 2.90 metres high.

The area of the Wall Memorial is still home to what is probably the longest preserved section of expanded metal fence in the border fortifications around Berlin. A more than 30-metre long and 2.20-metre high “Wall of the First Generation” from the initial phase of the 1961/1962 blockade is also preserved: it consists of concrete slabs on which two rows of hollow blocks were built and Y-deflectors with barbed wire were embedded. It is considered to be the only remaining section of this wall in existence.

Literature: 

     – Winfried Sträter, Groß Glienicke und der Mauerbau, published by Groß Glienicker Kreis e.V., self-published, paperback, Groß Glienicke/Potsdam 2011