European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 3, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Agazine stories and photos by Linda White travel editor Here Are More customs stations than Miles on the Rhine complains a bit of medieval Doggerel in German and not Only on the Rhine. Between Hamburg and Munich travellers once had to make 25 customs stops. Germany had 38 customs regions All told and it was not until 1b88 that the last of the German states joined a unified customs office. The Story of German customs is told in the customs museum Zol museum in Cologne. The museum is divided into two sections history which traces the development of customs from ancient times and smuggling. The collection was the brainchild of Johannes Popitz state Secretary in the Reich finance ministry. He set up the museum in Berlin in 1927, but it was totally wiped out in world War ii. A second collection was put together and reopened in 1954 in Cologne. It was hard to find old things again said Hel Nelch Ashauer. Chief of the customs  Institute. We would like to have two of everything because we take exhibitions on the Road  the collection begins with a picture taken from an egyptian grave dating from about 2400 . It shows people being made to crawl to the duty collector who towers Over them writing on a Tablet. The duty collector motifs continue through biblical times. The customs officer level became the apostle Matthew said Ashauer. Cologne with its strategic Rhine location was an important customs Stop. Large ships could navigate the River to that Point but once there had to unload the goods onto smaller boats which carried it South. Cologne demanded a tax on All cargo that passed through and declared that the goods had to be offered first to the City. Shippers literally tried to get around the rules by unloading their ships above Cologne and transporting goods by  resulted in castles being built to collect the taxes said Ashauer. A Model of the Zoll testing Zons. Located Between Cologne and Dusseldorf. Stands in the museum. It was a fortified town for tax collection and once it stood ust on the  he said. But when the River changed its course Zons almost became a ghost town. As a result it now looks about the same As it did in the Middle Ages thirld he a of air on its Island in mid Rhine Kib a sofas a toll Castle the Mausert urm to v to i  so tolls could be. Danube and Mosel doas. Of the 1.500 customs museum history of ctr Cutrona official Carl Ludwig Sholven Trowt a thaa used for smuggling and a Tut tit Veit which actually contained Vamp from Kokoran monday february 3, 1986 map photo stars and stripes Page 13