Green Belt - The Former Iron Curtain

Grenzland Museum,Tettenborn The green belt is a valuable habitat for plants and animals that now has replaced what was once the longest fortified border in the world. Where once walls, watchtowers and mines created a death zone for many, now a rich bio diversity of plants and wildlife flourish. For nearly 40 years the Iron curtain split across Europe and divided it in to two very different political, ideological and geographic areas.
The border ran across Germany for nearly 1,400 kilometres in a gentle zigzag from the Vogtland region, near the German-Czech border in the south, to the Baltic Sea in the north, and created an East, West Germany even dividing the capital city of Berlin itself.
After the fall of the Berlin wall conservation groups acted quickly to ensure the former border line and the 600 threatened species such as black stork, wild cat were to be protected.
In 1989 the first meeting of over 400 conservationists from both East and West was held. The idea of the Green Band was created and now it extends across Europe taking in over 150 nature reserves. In 2004 European countries committed to the Green Belt as a monument of European history. 		View towards the watch tower at Sorge

Part of the border path It is possible to do a complete trek of the green band across the Harz or take in sections. Many of the walks within the Harz often use sections of the green band as part of their route. If you plan to walk the whole distance which is around 100 kilometres depending on your time you can do it in 3 to 5 days. Starting from the north at Hornburg and walking past the border tower at Rhoden you follow the valley of the Ecker who's river formed part of the border. In Eckertal you can find the Memorial Stapelburg and parts of the original border. Next you head towards the Brocken. A visit to the museum at the Brocken is recommended.
From the Brocken head towards Braunlage passing the historic border stone monument of the three counties "Pfahl". Your next stop is the town of Sorge which translates as worry, (next to the town of Sorge is the town of Elend, which translates as misery, so if you need to find worry and misery together than this is the place to come),where you can find the original inner and outer border, watch tower as well as the "Ring of Remembrance". Continue the hike passing Hohegeiss towards Walkenried, and the famous Cistercian monastery, which provides a fascinating insight into the importance of the Cistercians in the development of the region. The walk completes at Tettenborn Grenzland Museum next to Bad Sachsa.
For more information please refer to these sites,
www.gruenes-band-harz.de
www.erlebnisgruenesband.de
www.greenbelteurope.eu
Memorial Stapelburg