Helmstedt–Marienborn border crossing

The border was initially manned by the Royal Military Police and the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces In Germany.

[1] From 1950 onwards, the East German Grenzpolizei (later the Grenztruppen der DDR) performed the border control on the eastern side of the checkpoint while the Soviet Army escorted NATO military traffic to and from West Berlin.

Between 1972 and 1974, the GDR erected a new control portal on a 35-hectare (86-acre) field situated on a hill near Marienborn, about 1.5 km (1,600 yards) east of the border.

The buildings were linked with a tunnel system, through which military or police units could reach the control portal quickly and secretly.

Therefore, the West German government added extensive car parks and rest areas on the autobahn approach to Helmstedt.

Its western side (in the former British zone) was labeled Checkpoint Alpha, after the first letter of the NATO phonetic alphabet.

On the grounds of the former East German border control buildings, the "Gedenkstätte Deutsche Teilung Marienborn" was opened on August 13, 1996.