The tower in Hoyersburg is an excellent vantage point. Below, an idyll of green meadows and low trees spreads out. But it was not built to admire the view, but to keep watch over the border between East and West – and shoot if anyone tried to cross.
Today, the no-man's land that divided Germany is a nature reserve. In Hoyersburg, those who look carefully and know what to look for can find rare plants such as marsh marigold and sea marigold in the salty soil.
These are protected red-listed species that cannot be found anywhere else in Saxony-Anhalt, says Dieter Leupold, deputy chairman of the nature and environmental organization BUND in Saxony-Anhalt.
Working name: border apple
A little below the tower grows an apple tree. It most likely grew from apple scraps that a soldier threw away. Now it is a small contribution to the biodiversity of the site.
If an apple tree grows from a seed, it is considered its own variety, and we are trying to get it registered. The working name is border apple.
The border between East and West in most of Germany was not a wall like the one in Berlin, but high barbed wire fences. There was a ten-meter-wide control zone, separated by a 500-meter-wide “protection zone” and a five-kilometer-wide exclusion zone.
Dieter Leupold points towards the trees.
All the trees have grown in the last 30 years. There was to be nothing that could obscure the view.
Although the environment was created and strongly influenced by man, it was also an area where animals and plants were left alone. Nature does not care about borders and even during the divided period the border area was known for its biodiversity. As a young birdwatcher, Dieter Leupold used to travel from Hamburg to the border to see rare species.
Protect natural areas
Just one month after the fall of the wall – on December 9, 1989 – nature and environmental organizations from East and West met with a common goal: to protect the valuable natural areas along the border.
It succeeded. Today, the Green Belt, as the area is called, is one of Europe's largest and most significant nature conservation projects – 1,400 kilometers long from the Baltic Sea in the north and down to the border with Austria. It is home to more than 1,200 rare and red-listed animals and plants.
But the Green Belt is not just a nature reserve, it also tells the story of a divided Germany. Not far from the border tower in Hoyersburg is a memorial to 26-year-old Hans-Friedrich Franck, who died trying to cross into West Germany. Seriously injured, he managed to drag himself across to the West side, where he died in hospital.
Further away is an area that nature has had a longer time to reclaim. The inhabitants of the small village of Jahrsau were forcibly relocated in the 1950s and 60s because they were considered to live too close to the border. In 1970, the farms were demolished.
At first glance, the place looks deserted. But in the forest around the ruins, the summer goldfinch, the common magpie and the night owl thrive, and the surrounding meadows are among the rare places in Germany where you can see and hear the bush warbler – the Green Ribbon's profile bird.
Bird life is increasing
At another location in the former barrier area, Brietzer Teiche, bird life also thrives.
The area of ponds that were created when digging for clay for the Salzwedel brickworks is now a mosaic of different environments.
Unlike in many other places in Germany, bird life is increasing here – largely thanks to cooperation between nature conservation and agriculture. Greylag geese stop here on their way to and from Sweden, and the meadow pipit, which is rare in the rest of the country, is increasing in numbers here. The area is popular with birdwatchers, says Dieter Leupold.
When the ornithology app starts ringing, people quickly flock here.
In 2005, the government designated the Green Belt as a national natural heritage site, and in 2024, Germany proposed to UNESCO that it become a World Heritage Site.
The intra-German border that separated East from West was almost 1,400 kilometers long.
Along the border on the East German side was a five-kilometer-wide barrier area, where there was a 500-meter-wide protection zone at the border and closest to the border a ten-meter-wide control zone that was forbidden to enter.
Escape from the Republic, attempting to leave East Germany without permission, was a crime and the border troops had a mandate to stop escape attempts with deadly force.
To secure the border, landmines were also placed and fragmentation mines were mounted on the metal fence.
There is no clear figure for how many people died trying to cross the border, but research suggests that at least 260 people died. The Berlin Wall Foundation estimates the number at around 650, a figure that also includes those who died in the Baltic Sea.
BUND – Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland – was founded in 1975.
Today, BUND is working to close the gaps that still exist in the Green Belt. Around twelve percent of the area is threatened by agriculture, roads and residential areas.
Based on the Green Belt, networks are also being developed to create connections to other natural areas. Meadows, cairns and ponds are also being created to promote biodiversity in the area.
In 2005, the government designated the Green Belt as a national natural heritage site, and in 2024, Germany proposed to UNESCO that it become a World Heritage Site.
