In the days after the fall of the Wall, the inner-German border was opened at numerous points. Everywhere there were lines of people and cars filled with GDR citizens eager to explore the West. This photograph shows traffic at the Rasdorf border crossing in Hesse, not far from the American observation post “Point Alpha.” The base was located in the center of NATO’s “Fulda Gap” line of defense, where the West had once anticipated that Warsaw Pact troops would attack in the event of war.