This book is the evocative four-year journey of Paul Drake and Helen File into one of the most secretive and heavily fortified borders in the world. For 37 years over 800 watchtowers monitored the surveillance along the Inner German Border; they were the first line of defense against the West and one of the most infamous sites of the Cold War. Continuous games of binocular warfare were carried out by both NATO and the Warsaw Pact across the 500m Schutzstreifen or, as it was known in the West, “The Death Strip.”

In the ten months between 9 November 1989, when the borders of the German Democratic Republic fell, and the unification of Germany in 1990, over 700 watchtowers were demolished along the Inner German Border. Through meticulous research and with assistance from guards stationed along the border and Berlin Wall, Drake and File have compiled a concise documentation on the watchtowers of the former border. Once an inaccessible and isolated area, the border is now the largest nature reserve in Germany. Drake and File illustrate these remnants of the Cold War in a compelling set of images showing the remaining 75 watchtowers in their current states.