The inner German border (German: Innerdeutsche Grenze or Deutsch-Deutsche Grenze, informal Zonengrenze) between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) was 1,381 kilometres (858 mi) long. Similar to the Berlin Wall, the communist East German government created an extensive system of fortifications on its soil, along the entire length of the border.

From 1952 to 1990, during the Cold War, the border system was used by the East German government to prevent its citizens from escaping to the West (Republikflucht). It was formed by a series of 3–4-metre (12–15 ft) high metal fences, walls, armed guards, guard dogs, barbed wire, electric alarms, trenches, watchtowers, automatic guns and minefields. The Berlin Wall, which separated East and West Berlin, was the most famous part of the system but formed less than a tenth of the whole.

The border was the most militarized in Europe and one of the most militarized anywhere in the world. It was a very literal manifestation of Winston Churchill's famous 1946 metaphor of an "iron curtain [that] has descended across the Continent." However, the border was more than just a line of defenses; its fortifications faced inwards, towards East Germany, rather than outwards towards the supposed threat from West Germany. It was directed primarily at preventing the GDR's civilians from escaping to the West. It was also more than just a state border; it marked Europe's division into two rival camps, politically (capitalist liberal democracy versus communist state), economically (the European Economic Community versus Comecon) and militarily (NATO versus the Warsaw Pact). As such, the inner German border acquired huge significance as a defining symbol of the Cold War.

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*Grenztruppen 1973-1990*