The sudden closing of borders, especially in Europe, has cut across communities. This has left families, partners and friends to meet along the new makeshift barriers for a quick catch-up as the lockdowns continue.
Usually when we imagine borders they are major lines surrounded by very little and guarded by a few posts or they are an airport with seemingly endless checkpoints. They are hard to cross and might require paperwork or special permissions.
For the European Union, this often isn’t the case. Borders are invisible and towns right next to each other interact as if they are part of the same country.
The European Union was established to allow for open borders and movement across the continent. As a result, towns and villages which are only a few kilometres apart, but in different countries, are accessible to the communities that stretch across them. Even countries which aren’t in the Union, like Switzerland, have open border agreements with its neighbours.
Now, major European countries with closed borders have shut each other off with makeshift and hurried fencing. According to the BBC, couples across the Swiss-German and German-Danish borders, which would usually be a few minutes’ drive apart, are now in long-distance relationships and are only able to meet for a short while to talk across the border’s fence.
WEEK IN PHOTOS
The separated couple, Karsten Tuchsen Hansen, 89, from Suederluegum, Germany and his Danish girlfriend Inga Rasmussen, 85, from Gallehus, meet daily at the Aventoft border crossing after the border was closed, due to the spread of the coronavirus.
VOA pic.twitter.com/6ZgAesHSv9— Matta Abraham (@MattaAbraham1) April 4, 2020
According to the BBC, Karsten Tuchsen Hansen from Germany and Inga Rasmussen from Denmark meet every day at the border to talk and have a coffee. They say they plan on taking a trip together once the crisis is over and borders are opened.
Las fronteras han vuelto al antiguo continente. Los vecinos de Konstanz en Alemania, y Kreuzlingen, en Suiza, han vivido unidos aunque en países diferentes. Con el covid las fronteras han resurgido. Primero pequeñas pero como familiares y amigos se aproximaba han ido creciendo. pic.twitter.com/SOoU0RXlqh
— @Aresha_Aresha (@AreshaAresha1) April 14, 2020
Image: @Aresha_Aresha/ Twitter
