Wartha / Herleshausen border crossing
The Wartha / Herleshausen border crossing was one of the few border points to be crossed by road on the inner-German border between the then German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany . It was on Europastraße 40 between the municipalities of Herleshausen in Hesse and Wartha in Thuringia . Until 1984 the West German control point Herleshausen and the East German control point Wartha were connected by a country road , which later became Bundesstraße 7a . At the end of 1984, both control points were relocated northwards to the newly opened motorway , which at that time only bore the designation Bundesautobahn 4 (BAB 4) on the West German side .
Today, parts of the site and the buildings of the new Wartha crossing point to the Eisenach service area , which existed from 1984 to 1990 , are located in the former command post of the border security command of the GDR border troops (K-GÜST). The watchtower and the former customs office are also preserved. Other parts belong to the Krauthausen - Deubachshof industrial park . The former new control point on the Hessian side near Herleshausen was also operated as a rest stop until 2005 and demolished in the course of the expansion of the BAB 4 to six lanes. A parking lot has been created on the site, and a new rest area is to be built for the direction of Dresden.
history
The designation of Wartha / Herleshausen as the only border crossing between Hesse and Thuringia dates back to 1946, when the American and Soviet occupying powers agreed on this location. Originally, it was intended solely for rail traffic on the main Eisenach-Bebra line . By 1963, the limit on could Bahnhof Wartha in passenger will happen after the transition to 1978 was still serving the freight . The border station became the Gerstungen station after 1963 , the border crossing point (GÜST) at the Wartha station was dismantled by the GDR in 1985.
From 1952 the border could be crossed by road on a country road running parallel to the railway line. It merged with the motorway a few kilometers east and west of the border. On the West German side, the BAB 4 coming from Wommen was only put back into operation in 1978. From 1973, local border traffic also took place across this border. In 1981 the GDR agent Günter Guillaume was replaced here.
In 1983, further construction of the motorway between the Eisenach-West junction and the border began on the East German side . The Hörschel Werra Valley Bridge was built with financial support from the Federal Republic of Germany . On the Thuringian side, the new border crossing point was set up at Deubachshof, which replaced the road crossing next to the Wartha train station on December 15, 1984.
Visa stamp from GÜST Wartha, 1970s
Wartha visa stamp, 1986
Control body on the Hessian side in 1985
Eisenach service area
The Eisenach service area is on the north side of the BAB 4. It is available in both directions and has two separate petrol stations with five dining facilities that are connected by a footpath. In 1996 the Federal Republic of Germany sold the site to the current operator. According to their information, it is the largest motorway service station in Germany, in which they have invested around 20 million euros in order to restore them to their current state.
Web links
- Educational film by the Ministry for State Security on the Wartha border crossing
- Herleshausen-Wartha border crossing at Grenzzaunlos.de
- Image gallery at the Wartha / Herleshausen border crossing at forum-ddr-begrenz.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dieter Salzmann: Werratal becomes a rest area , Hessisch-Niedersächsische Allgemeine April 23, 2012.
- ↑ www.autobahngeschichte.de , accessed on February 22, 2013.
- ↑ Hessischer VGH · Judgment of April 15, 2008 · Az. 2 C 2035 / 06.T , openjur.de.
Coordinates: 51 ° 0 '24.8 " N , 10 ° 15' 7.6" E