![]() The Allied zones of occupation in post-war Germany, highlighting the Soviet zone (red), the inner German border (heavy black line) and the zone from which British and American troops withdrew in July 1945 (purple). Museums and memorials along the old border commemorate the division and reunification of Germany and, in some places, preserve elements of the fortifications. Its route has been declared part of a European Green Belt linking national parks and nature reserves along the course of the old Iron Curtain from the Arctic Circle to the Black Sea. Little remains of the inner German border's fortifications. The inner German border was not completely abandoned until 1 July 1990, exactly 45 years to the day since its establishment, and only three months before German reunification formally ended Germany's division. Hundreds of thousands moved permanently to the West in the following months as more crossings were opened, and ties between long-divided communities were re-established as border controls became little more than a cursory formality. Over the following days, millions of East Germans poured into the West to visit. On 9 November 1989, the East German government announced the opening of the Berlin Wall and the inner German border. The better-known Berlin Wall was a physically separate, less elaborate, and much shorter border barrier surrounding West Berlin, more than 170 kilometres (110 mi) to the east of the inner German border. It caused widespread economic and social disruption on both sides East Germans living nearby suffered especially draconian restrictions. ![]() Built by the East German government in phases from 1952 to the late 1980s, the fortifications were constructed to stop Republikflucht, the large-scale emigration of East German citizens to the West, about 1,000 of whom are said to have died trying to cross it during its 45-year existence. The border was a physical manifestation of Winston Churchill's metaphorical Iron Curtain that separated the Soviet and Western blocs during the Cold War. In the hinterlands behind the border, more than a million NATO and Warsaw Pact troops awaited the possible outbreak of war. It was patrolled by 50,000 armed GDR border guards who faced tens of thousands of West German, British and U.S. On the Eastern side, it was made one of the world's most heavily fortified frontiers, defined by a continuous line of high metal fences and walls, barbed wire, alarms, anti-vehicle ditches, watchtowers, automatic booby traps and minefields. It was formally established by the Potsdam Agreement on 1 August 1945 as the boundary between the Western and Soviet occupation zones of Germany. De jure not including the similar but physically separate Berlin Wall, the border was 1,381 kilometres (858 mi) long and ran from the Baltic Sea to Czechoslovakia. The inner German border ( German: innerdeutsche Grenze or deutsch–deutsche Grenze initially also Zonengrenze) was the frontier between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990. ![]() On the basis that there are a very small number of trains from the Lea Valley route that run via (and stop at) Stratford on their way to Liverpool Street, I believe it's a valid route, and therefore I should have been allowed to break my journey.Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic The second said that my ticket was only valid on the direct route from Tottenham Hale towards London (as I had explained that I also had a Z12 travelcard), not via Stratford, and therefore not valid for break of journey at Stratford. The first one said that the ticket was valid to zone 2, and that Stratford was zone 3 (but didn't comprehend that I was still travelling towards zone 2, when I was breaking my journey). Ticket was rejected at the barrier and two members of staff both told me that the ticket was not valid. On the return journey, I chose to change trains at Tottenham Hale and travel down to Stratford (zone 3) and break my journey there. ![]() I hold a zone 1 & 2 travel card (on Oyster) and purchased an off-peak day return at Liverpool Street station for Boundary Zone 2 - Hertford stns.
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