Another German Border sign

**HARRY THE MOLE** · 07-23-2019, 08:57 PM

Another border sign arrived at our house today from my contact in Germany, and although this is a West German sign, I decided that it really should be placed in the Nationale Volksarmee section. After all, it was a sign warning drivers that they were approaching the Iron Curtain!

The sign measures 19 X 15 inches and is made up of a 3mm thick aluminium plate which has been given a reflective coating - although I am not sure exactly what the coating is - and then plastic letters and numbers are used for the wording. One of the images shows this surface coating has crazed through an impact of some kind. There is a bit of the story to this sign - although there is no way of proving if it is true, the fact of the matter is, with or without the story, it is still quite a rare and valuable piece of Cold War history. As always... eBay is full of fakes, but this one is totally genuine.

I purchased the sign directly from the owner... Marco Lehmann of Fulda, this was no ebay transaction. In a signed letter - and also an email, he told me how he came by the sign...

'When the border was opened in the night on Nov. 9th 1989 I was at Philippsthal (Werra) visiting my girfriend. Philippsthal is in the area of the Fulda gap and in the near of Point Alpha, too. I heard on the radio and watched on TV about the opening of the borders.
So I thought its the chance to get my personal item of this history and went to pick it up, because I hadn't to make any worries of the Border Guards

Yours sincerely,
Marco.

The 'Fulda gap' was where NATO anticipated that any Soviet invasion of the West would take place, and the area around 'Point Alpha' was heavily guarded, and with large military garrisons in the area. The watchtower in the picture forms part of the 'Point Alpha' museum. Click on images (twice) to enlarge.

Cheers,
Steve