undamaged. On 11 April the American advance reached Holungen, the German troops having fled the previous day. When the news of the American approach became known, the mayor and the parish vicar went out to meet the approaching troops. As the first vehicles neared them, the two men went up to the Americans and asked them to spare Holungen. They explained that there were no more German soldiers left in the village, and that Holungen would offer no resistance. The inhabitants had hoisted a white flag with a red cross atop the church tower. American troop movements continued through the area until 18 April, with the tank columns taking the first three days to pass through. The inhabitants could only use the main street between noon and 1 p.m. each day, and all the streets in the village were torn up by tank tracks. On 4 July 1945, Russian soldiers arrived in Holungen, the village lying only from the border with the British occupation zone (see this page about the GDR for a map of the zones). On 20 August the majority of the Russian troops withdrew and only a small garrison remained. East Germany, Reunificiation and the mines Thanks to the strongly held Catholic faith in the Eichsfeld, particularly in Holungen, the SED found it difficult to get a foothold in the area. Nevertheless, the GDR controlled everything. The situation was made worse by the proximity of Holungen to the Grenzsperrgebiet, the closed military exclusion zone that ran along the East German side of the border with the West. The neighbouring villages of Brehme and Jützenbach were located within this zone. This zone, part of a complex border system which extended several kilometres into the GDR, was intended to catch people trying to escape across the border to the West before they reached the actual border fences. Tourists were not permitted entry. Only those who lived in the zone or were visiting relatives in the zone, and had the necessary permits, could enter, making life additionally difficult for the many Holungers with friends and relatives living in the zone. In the GDR period, the potash mine, now known as the “Thomas Müntzer” mine, was the largest employer in the region. From 1955 to 1961 the number of employees rose from 25 to nearly 300. Even in 1939, the mine had been the main potash source for the German war