Re: iron curtain

Michael,

The Iron Curtain was certainly real/physical between East
and West Germany. From the two Germanys, the Iron Curtain
proceeded south all the way to the Adriatic Sea, ending
between Trieste, Italy and Yugoslavia. A writer (whose name
I would have to look up) took a specific journey along the
entire length of the Iron Curtain--before the book was
published, much of it was first printed in the NEW YORKER
(1983 or 84) in three parts (which is what I read). I seem
to recall that the "fence" was mostly real and contiguous
from north to south, although the severity of the 'curtain'
and what it manifest and represented gradually diminished
the further south it was.

I traveled (by car) through two (of the three?) checkpoints
between the West and East German border in May 1990. [These
checkpoints are not to be confused with the 'famous' Alpha,
Bravo and Charlie Checkpoints--A and B between West Berlin
and East Germany, and Charlie specifically between East and
West Berlin. I went through A, B and C, plus I crossed over
the Glienike Bridge between West Berlin and Potsdam--this is
the bridge were spies were famously traded.] The Iron
Curtain was very real at these points. This was an
interesting time because the Berlin Wall was already coming
down, but there were still two Germany's, thus the
'checking' at the checkpoints (for all Germans at least) was
relatively lax, although the whole 'apparatus' was still in
place. In fact, at my final crossing from East to West at
Erfurt, the gates were just open and there were no guards
anywhere to be seen.