Talk:Crossing the inner German border during the Cold War

1c References for Future FA

 * 1) Books bibliographied and linked waiting for an editor
 * 2) Unused books removed waiting for an editor
 * 3) Archival material, ephemera, unusual sources, museums waiting for an editor
 * 4) Newspapers might not be required

Missing reference data
"Hertle" is referenced four times, but there is no bibliography given. -- KlausFoehl (talk) 07:56, 8 October 2015 (UTC)

P.S. To be checked whether that should be: Hertle, Hans-Hermann (2007). The Berlin Wall: Monument of the Cold War. Berlin: Ch. Links Verlag. ISBN 978-3-86153-463-1. KlausFoehl (talk) 08:01, 8 October 2015 (UTC)

Yugoslav passport
I've been searching Google but couldn't find a solid source on this (apart from news sites), but the Yugoslav passport of SFRY apparently allowed visa-free travel from East Germany to West Germany, and visa-free on business for vice-versa. Could be a good inclusion in this article, perhaps. -Vipz (talk) 03:22, 7 August 2022 (UTC)

Article mostly true but not completely
I hitchhiked through Europe in 1976. My experience entering East Germany to get to Berlin was quite different than shown in this article. This is my experience. We accidentally walked across an East Germam/West German border bridge and were confronted by East German soldiers with machine guns and vicious German shepherds. They did threaten to shoot us. It was not well marked, the border entering East Germany., plus we had no clue we were at the border.. But, they did allow us to backtrack and take a train to Berlin. We spent a week in Betlin. My buddy and I did enter East Berlin through checkpoint Charlie. The wall, tank barriers, machine gun Towers were everything as terrifying as you could imagine. It takes 60 minutes to Traverse a mere 200 yards with all of the guards, inspections ,Etc The interior of East Berlin, buildings  were still showing immense damage from World War II. And this was 30 years after the war ended. East Berlin residents were terrified to talk about their situation. There were tanks on the streets and armed soldiers everywhere. East German" propaganda was everywhere.

Entering Rast Berlin we had to exchange 10 West German Deutsche marks for 10 East German Deutsche marks of which East German marks were basically worthless aluminum. If you didn't spend it all in your 10-hour permitted visit you had to return what you didn't spend. A hot dog and a beer was the equivalent of 15 cents US. You can't spend it all. It was capital punishment to remove East German money from East Berlin. Of course I took some ... and still have it. The horrors of East Berlin, post World War II before the Wall came down, are as bad as you can imagine. Evidence of people trying to escape and dying in the process was .... everywhere !

But we traveled fairly simply into East Germany and then through checkpoint Charlie. We did not have prior permission. We traveled same day. My experience was from 1976. I can't speak to what it was like in the 50s or the mid 80s but this is what I did when I was 20 years old in 1976. 71.205.123.252 (talk) 17:28, 8 December 2022 (UTC)