When  people think of the Iron Curtain the first image that comes to mind is the infamous Berlin Wall. Yet, the wall was only a small fraction of the East German border security network. The Iron Curtain was actually a complex series of obstacles and detection devices set up in depth along the border.  So successful were the security measures, that the East German government was able to reduce the amount of escapees from 5,000 a week in 1961, to only  36 in 1986.   

Throughout the years the government initiated a variety of measures and  modernization projects to enhance the impregnability of the border.  As a result the border security system was constantly in transition as new fences, towers, and landmines were placed in operation.  Even as the border collapsed in 1989, new plans called Grenze 2000 were already in place to modernize the border security system.

The charts below provide a glimpse of how extensive the border security system was on the Landesgrenz and in Berlin prior to the collapse of the Iron Curtain. *