I already knew in GDR times that a fence had been built around my life. But it was only here, in Mödlareuth, that I realised the full extent of the tragedy: I was a prisoner in a human cage that was only open at the top. Not protected. But guarded. The day freedom came into my life was a Thursday. I was seventeen. The atmosphere in the country had been simmering for weeks. Occupied embassies in the West, Monday demonstrations, church concerts. I had marched with them right from the start, because months earlier the SED functionaries had destroyed my life. Because I had been accepted into the junior national track cycling squad, they had secretly decided whether I was "politically correct for the squad" or whether travelling to a "non-socialist foreign country" might put me "at risk of escape". The Stasi started snooping around and came across my mum's pen pal in Hamburg. I had a week to hand in my bike. A shock. A trauma. Discarded like an aphid from a salad bowl.
Twenty years have passed. Germany is united, an East German Chancellor. Trees and bushes grow on the former death strip. The 1378 kilometre-long strip was declared a "Green Belt" nature conservation project.
My tour is a border crossing and border experience in one. A week on my bike along the Green Belt. Not to the point, just the general direction. I want to meet people, feel the atmosphere. I have a tent with me and otherwise only the essentials: ultra-crushable sleeping bag, inflatable pillow, rain cover, toothbrush, folding knife, leisure suit, bank card. Adventure in Germany instead of just anywhere else in the world.
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The former border route measures almost 1400 kilometres. Our tour started near Hof/Bavaria and travelled 280 km over the first two days via Sonneberg to Eisenach.
Part 1 of this journey along the inner-German border is currently being displayed.
