Inner German border

The fortified boundary separating East Germany from West Germany from 1949 until German reunification in 1990, excluding the separate border around West Berlin.

German Democratic Republic border troops: The East German military force responsible for guarding the country's borders. They patrolled the frontier and enforced restrictions on unauthorized crossings.
Allied-occupied Germany: Germany's division into occupation zones administered by the victorious Allied powers after World War II. The border followed the boundary between the Soviet and Western occupation zones.
Walter Ulbricht: The East German communist leader who headed the Socialist Unity Party from 1950 to 1971. His government built and expanded the state's system of border control.
German reunification: The 1990 process by which East Germany joined the Federal Republic of Germany. Reunification ended the border as a state frontier.
Border fence: A physical barrier designed to restrict movement across a territorial boundary. Fences and associated obstacles formed visible layers of the frontier's security system.
German partition: The division of Germany into separate East and West German states during the Cold War. The creation of rival German states turned an occupation boundary into an international frontier.
Erich Honecker: The East German leader who headed the Socialist Unity Party from 1971 to 1989. He oversaw the border regime during its mature decades and its final political crisis.
Peaceful Revolution: The largely nonviolent movement that brought down East Germany's communist government in 1989. Mass protest weakened the government that maintained the border regime.
Observation tower: A raised structure used to observe and monitor an area. East German guards used towers to watch border zones and detect attempted crossings.
Berlin Blockade: The Soviet Union's 1948–1949 blockade of land access to the Western sectors of Berlin. The crisis sharpened the confrontation that accompanied Germany's division.

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