Baltic Sea watchtower, Kühlungsborn

The Baltic watchtower cooling Born is a former watchtower of the Border Brigade coast of the Border Troops of the GDR. As a maritime border observation tower (BT 11) he was one of a number of formerly 27 towers of its kind on the coast of East Germany, two of which have survived.

History and Architecture

The 1972 built tower located in Kühlungsborn East in the immediate vicinity of the beach promenade close to the pier. The corresponding to the boundary Brigade Coast East German border guards had orders to watch ship movements on the Baltic Sea from the tower and determine escape attempts. By means of a permanently mounted telescope with high magnification could scan from a 12 nautical miles wide area, the four -man crew from the pulpit. At night, the short-range could be illuminated by a motor mounted on the roof of the tower searchlight. The basic equipment of the pulpit were a radio system, an emergency generator and heating. Below the window there were lockable loopholes. The pulpit is offset mounted steel ladders accessible. The guards recorded any suspicious translucent movement. The radio equipment were involved in the signaling network boundary, so limit ships and land units were alerted immediately.

The Baltic Sea border tower shaped the landscape of the Baltic Sea coast. The soldiers of the Border Brigade patrolled the beach, they were supported on demand by mobile searchlight and fully equipped emergency vehicles.

Friends of

An association prevented the planned demolition in 1990 and restored on its own initiative, the building and the technical equipment. In 1991, the border tower was declared a historic monument, it is contained in the list of monuments in cooling Born. The tower is accessible via an internal conductor.

Documented attempts to escape

Explanatory boards outdoor describe various successful and also prevented by the border troops escape attempts. One of the most famous refugees was Peter Döbler, he swam through 1969, the Baltic Sea and reached after about 25 hours, about 40 km away island of Fehmarn. In the exhibition space next to the watchtower some will escape used items, such as a dinghy with a family with two children fled shown. Also part of the equipment of the soldiers are issued. It presents the impact of the former Baltic border for residents.

Gallery

View from the sea.

The pulpit at 15 m height

Swell

• Grenzturm eV Baltic Sea border tower, monument and meeting in memory of the German division brochure, published with the support of the State Commissioner for Mecklenburg -Western Pomerania for the Stasi documents.