This lift links the River Oder, which runs on the border between Poland and Germany, and the Finow Canal, which goes west towards the town of Eberswalde. The canal has been in use for many years, although the new version was only constructed in 1914.
When I visited the area in 1995, I found it carried an air of sadness. It was only 6 years after the Berlin Wall came down, and East Germany was stuck in a timewarp. It looked like it was still 1950. The other thing was the former state orphanage near Eberswalde, called the Anne Frank House. It was for children who were NOT orphans at all, but taken away from parents who had fallen foul of the former communist regime, led by Erich Honecker. That made me positively sick. The electricity meters in the homes were marked "Volkseigentum" [People's Property], although the access to communal housing were paved with coal rubble.
On returning west, we passed the former crossing between East and West, and the paraphernalia of the border were still intact. Like the clearing, running the length of the border from Stettin in the north to the Czech / Polish / German border triangle in the south. The clearing was paved with deep sand, designed to show any footprins. Watchtowers, from which any fugitive were shot on sight still loomed.
If it wasn't for that, I would have found East Germany quaint. I remember from the 1980s the radio broadcasts on 188 kHz longwave, telling those who could be bothered about the skiing holidays in the socialist paradises of Zakopane and Sochi. But it was all deadly serious. Literally, deadly. We lost nothing with the demise of communism in Europe.
See,we know nothing of these things via the normal media.That is such a shame,those children being taken from their parents.Our son was in Germany when in the Army and he loved it,said he would love to live there.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting entry Guido. I learn so much from your entries, thank you.
ReplyDeleteLisa