MOEDLAREUTH, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 20: An original East German border post stands at the former fortified border between East Germany and West Germany on September 20, 2019 in Moedlareuth, Germany. The village of Moedlareuth straddled the border, with the houses on the south side of the border standing in the West German state of Bavaria and the houses on the north side in the East German state of Thuringia. East German authorities began building a fortified exclusion zone along the 1,400km border between the two countries in 1954 in an effort to stop people, particularly East German citizens, from fleeing from communist, authoritarian East Germany into capitalist, democratic West Germany. In Moedlareuth the border fortification ran right through the village and today a portion remains as a memorial. In 1961 a similar fortified border, which became known as the Berlin Wall, went up around West Berlin, which was a West German exclave within East Germany. The fortifications included watchtowers, armed patrols with orders to shoot people trying to escape, anti-vehicle traps, an inner fence and an outer wall. The fortified border lost significance after the revolution of 1989, when the borders between the two Germanys opened and the communist regime collapsed. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, with celebrations planned for November 9. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
