Iron Curtain set to become tourist trail

The dividing line between East and West stretched for nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic almost to the foothills of the Alps. But the plan being drawn up by the European Union is for a much longer route, of some 4,250 miles. It would start at the Arctic Sea, run along Finland's border with Russia, go through the Baltic States and Poland to Germany, then skirt Austria's border with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary before following the Danube to the Black Sea.

The project is partly inspired by the Boston Freedom Trail in the United States, which commemorates the American War of Independence, and the 100-mile Berlin Wall Trail that runs through Germany.

Michael Cramer, a Green MEP from Germany, said: "We want to transform the idea of the Berlin Wall Trail to a European level. The path would boost eco-tourism across Europe."

He said 12 countries had pledged support for the idea and agreed to co-finance the route, but he could not say how much the project was likely to cost.

The plan for an Iron Curtain tourist trail comes at a time of intense interest in Germany about the Communist past.

Many of the frontier defences were preserved, unlike the Berlin Wall, which many feel was torn down with indecent haste. At places such as Marienborn, for example, the main east-west crossing point on the A2 motorway is now a museum. There are rows of sheds where lorries were once searched by grim-faced guards with orders to confiscate everything from fresh fruit to sex aids. All around stand the watchtowers that were manned by officers with orders to shoot to kill.

At night, the same floodlights that used to turn night into day are still turned on for tourists as they wander around.

Further north, near the Baltic, a couple have made a watchtower a holiday home,

while a businessman has bought Schloss Hoheneck, in eastern Germany, a towering fortress-style prison like Colditz Castle, which he plans to turn into a museum.

Some see the EU tourist trail proposal as a necessary antidote to eastern Germany's current wave of "Ostalgie", the nostalgia for the old regime.

The misery of the Communist years have been largely replaced with a rose-tinted view of the old days, that has led to feelgood films such as Goodbye, Lenin and a huge demand for former products of the German Democratic Republic.

"It is as if there has been a collective amnesia about what went on in East Germany," said Rita Seewald, who was brought up in Karl-Marx-Stadt, the eastern city that has now reverted to its original name of Chemnitz.

"I don't understand it at all. If they want a trail that has informative and detailed descriptions of what happened and when, then fine. What we don't need any more is 'East German Lite'."

Much of the old Iron Curtain route in Germany and the Czech Republic has fallen back to nature. Hidden mines and a lack of funds have meant that many rare species of birds and wildlife have thrived in land declared off-limits to humans.

European environmental groups have devised a plan to create nature parks out of these no-man's lands and Brussels hopes these will be incorporated into the trail.