a virtual "no-man's zone" along the border

Chapter Three Transition Into A Tactical Force: 1950-1952
Since only the United States and Great Britain ratified the Contractual Agreements by the end of 1952, the legality of conducting border operations was a moot point during this period. Of more immediate concern was the rather dramatic response from the East Bloc to the signing of the Contractual Agreements.
On 26 May,1952 -- the same date the Contractual Agreements were signed -- the German Democratic Republic (GDR) Council of Ministers issued a decree concerning measures to be taken at the Demarcation Line. The decree provided for the creation of a 10-meter plowed control strip along the entire 1,345.9 kilometer boundary, an adjoining 500-meter restricted zone, and a 5-kilometer zone in which no one could reside without a special permit. Work on implementing this decree began almost immediately, with American border patrols observing as early as 27 May tractors and plows clearing a virtual "no-man's zone" along the border. Almost simultaneously, reports came in from other sectors of further plowing as well as brush and tree cutting. Although the East Germans had blocked most unauthorized crossing points with ditches and barricades in 1947 (see Chapter 2, International Relations), even more barricades were installed. Trees were removed along the border, houses were torn down, bridges were closed, and barbed-wire fencing began to be used. Farming and other activities along the border were tightly controlled, with fields in the protective strip being worked only in daylight hours and all labor being supervised by guards. The GDR Government decreed that ". . . crossing the ten-meter control strip is forbidden for all persons . . . Weapons will be used in case of failure to observe the orders of the border patrols." People living within the 5-kilometer zone required special identification and passes to enter or leave the zone.
(U) The reason for these measures, according to Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl, was to protect the GDR from ". . . spies, diversionists, terrorists, and smugglers" -- all of whom, apparently, were crossing the border from the west to the east. The real reason was to prevent what the GDR authorities termed "flight from the Republic," a crime that hundreds of thousands of East Germans had committed or were planning to commit. In the following months some 8,000 "unreliable" residents of the border area were scheduled to be resettled away from the border. Protests led in some instances to resistance, which was overcome by the Volkspolizei, with approximately 3,000 border residents fleeing west before could be resettled. As the border residents found their way across the border, they brought with them tales of hardship, forced evacuations, and the jailing of "political unreliables." The GDR boundary was effectively sealed in a matter of months, but Berlin remained a large loophole and became the major avenue of escape into the West.