Fulda Gap may be just a peaceful landscape of rolling hills today, but for over 40 years, during the height of the Cold War, this place was said to be the potential battleground for World War lll.
“We are standing here at the hottest spot of German history, of European history,” Ricarda Steinbach, director of the Point Alpha memorial, told Euronews.
“NATO and Warsaw pact troops were looking at each other only two meters apart, here at this point,” added Steinbach.
The fear was that Soviet troops would invade Western Germany and US-led NATO troops, numbering some 400,000 would retaliate .
And the bigger fear: that nuclear weapons would be used – devastating not only Germany but all of Western Europe.
This of course never happened.
05/08/1997: Christian Science Monitor: A German Town Remembers Life on the Cold War’s Edge http://t.co/WG81uBOku9— Charlotte L Coolidge (@C_Coolidge) July 7, 2015
But almost 27 years after the collapse of the Iron Curtain, this memorial serves as a reminder of the American presence once here and the gratefulness felt by many for a US military ready to defend Europe.
Renate Stieber worked as a public affairs officer with the US troops for 24 years.
During that time, she would come here almost on a daily basis.
What does this remind you of when you come up here?
“It reminds me of the duty the American soldiers carried out here, in the tower for example,” Stieber told Euronews. “That they were watching the area for twenty four hours which you can see right now. And what they contributed to our peace and freedom. As long as they were here, the western people could sleep well at night.”
Donald Trump calls NATO “obsolete” https://t.co/xFrXUeoUyF via HuffPostPol— Edward A. Rowe (EdwardARowe1) April 4, 2016
Donald Trump
But with the world’s eyes glued on Donald Trump, sleeping well at night could get a bit harder.
Trump has made it no secret that when it comes to security, Europe needs to do more.
“I will make a long statement about NATO, talking about the fact that many countries are not paying their fair share,” Trump said in a televised speech during his presidential campaign. “That means we are protecting them and they are getting all sorts of military protection and other things and they’re ripping off the United States. And they’re ripping you off. I don’t want to do that. Either they pay up including for past deficiencies or they have to get out. And if it breaks up NATO, it breaks up NATO.”
Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin
For Trump, it’s payback time. Payback for all the years the United States sheltered Europe during the Cold War.
He has stated the fact that only 4 out of NATO’s 28 members pay the required 2 percent of their GDP in defence. But how do his European allies feel about this? And about him?
“Here in Berlin, like throughout most of Europe, the very idea of the next US president being Donald Trump seems almost surreal, like a big joke. But not everyone is laughing,especial
