Gedenkstätte Marienborn / Grenzdenkmal Hötensleben

The Gedenkstätte Marienborn / Grenzdenkmal Hötensleben (German Division Marienborn Memorial) is a place of remembrance of contemporary German and European history. It is located on the grounds of the GDR border crossing point (GÜSt) Marienborn on the Berlin - Hanover highway, one of the westernmost points on the former system border between the communist area of rule and the democratic states of the West. The GÜSt Marienborn was an integral part of the GDR's almost seamlessly monitored border security system. As a dividing wall and eye of a needle between East and West, it marked a seam in the "Iron Curtain" where the division of Germany, Europe and the world into two opposing camps became manifest. An essential part of the memorial is the Hötensleben border memorial, located about 17 kilometers to the south, which documents the border fortifications of the GDR as they were in 1989. In December 2011, the German Division Marienborn Memorial was awarded the European Heritage Label of the European Union.