European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 14, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Anti personnel mines pack enough explosives to tear a persons log off. From the old no Many a land. By de Reavis staff writer. It s called a Quot suicide Mission Quot by the local press but it s a Job Burkhart Kehring and his Crew Are glad to have 1 the Job is Clearing land mines from the old no Man s land that ran Between the two Germany. Quot Clearing  is our specially. Fortunately no one has been Hurt so far. And we at least have work whereas most people in the former East Germany Are on the Dole Quot Kehring said. The East German Engineer units that originally installed the mines suffered 112 injured and one fatality during the course of their work. Between 1961 and 1977, the former East German regime buried More than 1,3 million soviet bulgarian and East German produced mines. In addition some 40,000 Home produced sm-70 anti personnel splitter mines were installed on the Fence that ran the length of the Border. Quot the land mines contained from 100 to 200 Grams of explosives. If you step on one it will tear off your leg to about thigh High Quot Kehring said. The sm-70s on the Fence were designed to blast a Hole in your Chest or. Your head Kehring said. After the East germans signed the conference on Security and cooperation in Europe in Vienna Austria in 1982, they removed most of the mines As a gesture toward the human rights that they professed to Honor. After studying East German documents experts believe there Are still some 30,000 mines left to be removed. The mines were planted by the former communist regime to Quot protect Quot the citizens of the Quot workers and Farmers state Quot from infiltration by agents of imperialism and capitalism. In reality the mines were part of the system of traps built along the 864-mile Border to keep East germans from fleeing the Quot workers Paradise Quot As East Germany was ironically called in the West. The Job is urgent because hikers school classes and even campers like to use the untouched strip of nature for their outings. Farmers also like to take advantage of the extra strip of and and Plant the area. They ail ignore the Many signs put up to warn them of the danger Kehring said. Quot hikers have found five mines so far. Another was found 10 feet from a bratwurst stand a local Man built to feed Border tourists it was a Miracle no one stepped on it Quot Kehring said. Now that the mines must be removed the Job has fallen to former East German Border troops a All of whom have been relieved of duty and not accepted into the new integrated German army a the bund Estehr Kehring and his team of 23 men have the risky Job of finding and destroying the land mines buried along the strip of land Between the states of Hesse and Thuringia. Theirs is one of seven such teams working the Border from the Baltic to the intersection of the bavarian czechoslovakian Border. Quot unfortunately the theory Here does t work in practice Quot said Kehring a former Captain in the East German army. Quot for example according to the plans we have there was supposed to be one mine somewhere in this Patch of land we re currently working a there were five. The next Patch we work is supposed to have 70 and the following stretch 270, but who knows Quot Kehring s Crew members rope off a stretch of fhe mine Field which they first plow and then dressed in padded uniforms they search visually from an improvised steel platform attached to the front of a tractor. We plow a Field four times. Every time we find a mine we Start from the beginning and plow another four times. When we find a mine it is detonated on site Quot Kehring said. Burkhart Kehring helps uncover More than 30,000 land mines along the old Bonier. Kehring said soil erosion and flooding Over the years have caused the mines to move a some great distances. One mine even slipped into an underground Stream and was washed by the local River into a town two Miles away. Kehring complained that the men on the mine Clearing squads were signed on with dubious work contracts and poor life insurance policies Quot our equipment is antiquated and our spirits Low like the rest of the East germans. But at least we have work and this Job will the a Long time Quot he said. It. Col. Otto Wenisch chief of the Southern command for elimination and re cultivation of the Border strip with Headquarters in Erfurt claims the men Are insured and Are earning a decent wage. Quot they earn in Marks what they used to make in East Marks and they re insured. Those who want More insurance can buy More no one is forcing them to do the Job. They can walk off anytime they want Quot Wenisch said the mine searching equipment is rudimentary. But All safety precautions have to be observed he  we re testing several new mine searching devices that we Hope to be Able to deploy in the near future Quot Wenisch said. Concrete path leads through no Man s land on the Border Between old East and West Germany. Sas photos by Jim Derheim held near the town of Tann. Page 14 a the stars and stripes wednesday August 14,1991 the stars and stripes a Page 15