8 days between the borders

Available in: English | Deutsch

Since the late 1960s, Gerhard Hoch worked as a police officer at the border crossing Furth im Wald, where he had a chance to witness the brutality of the border controls. Once a Roma family wanted to travel from Czechoslovakia to the Federal Republic of Germany. The Czechoslovak officials let them pass but the Bavarian officials would not let them enter Germany as they had no visa for Germany. However, the Czechoslovak officials would not let them go back to Czechoslovakia anymore. Thus the family was caught between the two borders and none of the two countries would let them in: “They camped for eight days between the two borders. We provided them with food and drinking water but they were not allowed to enter Germany.” The Red Cross intervened and eventually the family was received by Austria.

Gallery (1)

Hodnocení

Hodnotilo 0 lidí

Abyste mohli hodnotit musíte se přihlásit!

Routes

Not a part of any route.

Add to user route

Comments

No comments yet.

Insert comment

Gerhard Hoch

Gerhard Hoch was born in 1940 in Weiden in the region of Oberpfalz. In 1959, he started to work for the Federal Border-Protection Service. In 1967, he enrolled to the Bavarian police. Based on his experience with the Bohemian border, he opted for a position with the Border-Police Commissariat in Furth im Wald. For some years, he worked in middle-rank positions at the Border-Police station in Höll. Since 1981, he was heading a unit at the border crossing Furth im Wald. In 2000, he retired. His day-to-day work mostly entailed the clearing of travelers but he also experienced escape attempts, the brutality of some of the officials at the border crossing or the cooperation with the Czechoslovak colleagues and the opening of the border in 1989.

The border crossing Furth im Wald/Folmava

Available in: English | Deutsch

The road border crossing Furth im Wald/Folmava (Vollmau) was closed in 1949 and reopened on July 18, 1964. Ahead of its reopening, it had to be adapted in order to accommodate the future traffic load. A road crossing and before that a pedestrian crossing was opened in 1964. In addition, a railway station is to be found in nearby Furth im Wald that lies on the line Schwanberg - Furth im Wald - Pilsen.