Two families in East Germany longed for freedom and built their own hot air balloon from taffeta, which they had secretly purchased during preparations that lasted more than a year.
They made plans to flee and cross the border into West Germany. This daring plan was put into action in September 1979.
They set off in their craft on a moonlit September night, after a failed attempt in which they ran out of fuel in mid-air and crashed into the bushes.
On their second attempt, however, they managed to reach the West. They managed to leave the country in dramatic fashion, just before being overtaken by East German police.
The two families were on the verge of death because border guards in East Germany, then part of the Eastern Bloc, were ordered to use deadly force to prevent people from defecting to the West.
The Inner German border and the Berlin Wall were heavily fortified with watchtowers, landmines, armed soldiers and other measures to prevent illegal border crossings.
“We knew nothing about ballooning,” says Günter Wetzel, 69, one of two families who managed to escape in their homemade balloon. He did extensive research after being inspired by a television program.
When asked if his dreams have come true in his new home, he answers matter-of-factly: “What do you mean by dreams?” Wetzel, who retrained as a car mechanic, was convinced that everything would turn out fine.
His story was later made into a film. His character was played by American star Beau Bridges in the Disney film “Nightcrossing” and by David Kross in a German film called “Balloon” (2018).
Unfortunately, the films did not make him rich. “We were naive,” he says, looking back.
Exploring the former death strip
On East Germany’s former infamous ‘Death Strip’ there is now a sign where visitors can learn more about the balloon flight, which is known worldwide for its audacity.
After World War II, Germany was divided for decades, separated by a long border that hikers can now cross.
Where the death strip ran along the Inner German border, there is now a green strip between the Saxon-Bavarian Vogtland and the Baltic Sea.
Day trippers like to come to this region because of the combination of forests, heathlands, rivers, moors and low mountain ranges.
Hiking journalist Thorsten Hoyer has walked 1,250 kilometers of the approximately 1,400 kilometer long green belt in less than a month, but he does not recommend it. “70% of it consists of concrete and asphalt.”
Nature is in the process of reclaiming the terrain, but has not yet fully succeeded.
The route is based on the Kolonnenweg on the eastern side, where East German border guards used to patrol over perforated plates.
Nowadays there is greenery everywhere along the route, but there is less tourist infrastructure and in some places the signage could be better.
It is therefore better for cyclists and hikers to concentrate on specific routes, for example in the Frankenwald, the border triangle of the states of Bavaria and Thuringia.
‘Small Berlin
The Saale River, once a border, flows gently along, building up to a smooth surface near Hirschberg and is lined with trees and shrubs, while canoeists race over a dam. As you cycle along the colonnade path, look for the wide depressions in the concrete.
The situation becomes easier on a forest path and the small road to Mödlareuth. Here the Americans called the village “Little Berlin.”
Like the German capital, Mödlareuth was divided by a wall, and you can still visit the German-German Museum, which has a memorial to the country’s separation. Visitors can also view a section of the Wall, and watchtowers and barbed wire fences bear witness to the painful division.
Britt Hornig, who is currently wandering the museum grounds, is deeply moved and agitated. She used to work as a pediatric nurse in East Germany. “This can’t happen again. That was my childhood, my youth. It was absolute madness what they did to us.”
“I went to the demonstrations in Leipzig every week and fought for freedom until the Wall fell.”
Otto Oeder, a former border police officer and now 79, also remembers the division. “I thought the world ended there,” he says, describing his deployment on the Bavarian side of the Iron Curtain.
He wrote and published his book about those divided years, in which he recalled refugees who survived. “At our police station, we first dressed them in dry clothes, donated by us, not paid for by the state.”
He also set up a regular meeting place in a pub for people who had crossed the border to share their anecdotes. Anyone loyal to the East German regime was not welcome.
Walking through the past
Frankenwald-Steigla is the name of a network of circular hiking trails in the Frankenwald, three of which illustrate the German-German past.
The Wetzsteinmacher trail, 5.3 kilometres long and starting below Lauenstein Castle, leads to the Thüringer Warte. It is a lookout tower on the summit of the Ratzenberg and offers a fantastic vantage point to survey the area. Climb 117 steps and you can enjoy the view of the forests of the Thuringian-Franconian Slate Mountains.
Other climbs include the challenging Grenzer-Weg – 16.8 kilometres from Carlsgrün – and the moderate, recently opened 10-kilometre Grünes Band route, which starts in Mitwitz.
Along the way a stream babbles and the cuckoo’s call echoes through the forest. You hear birdsong, while dewdrops sparkle like pearls on blades of grass. Dragonflies dance in the sun and it is so peaceful that you cannot imagine that anything ever happened here.
