The local population often shows ambivalent emotions towards the former Iron Curtain. More than others, people living in the border area were affected directly by the border situation, by the loss of relatives, of houses and farmland and of free movement.
It is a personal decision how to deal with the past. Some people don't want to be reminded of the border, others feel the need to talk about it and consider the project 'Green Belt' a possibility for coming to terms with the past.
The establishment of sustainable tourism (like the 'Border Hiking Trail in Wartburg county') can have positive effects on the local acceptance and can strengthen the region.
To get an impression of the life near the Iron Curtain you might read the travelogues of Klaffenböck or Scherzer, who hiked along the Green Belt of Germany and Austria, getting in touch with the local population or the books of H. Schätzing, describing history and life at the border between Thuringia and Bavaria (compare: Tourism/ Guide books).