Schlagsdorf, first mentioned in 1158, got included into the observation system in 1952 and remained a restricted area until 1989. Special laws forced the inhabitants of the border area to live with considerable restrictions, as a result, a large number of citizens left their native homes. Those who remained in Schlagsdorf were specially earmarked in their identity cards for the residential rights within the restricted areas.
Non-residents could obtain the limited permission to stay by an application, which was required to be made for every sojourn. Resident or not, people had to carry their identity card and their permission statements with them all the time.
For working within the exclusion zone, another special application was needed. This was subject to special authorization. Workers were observed permanently. Violations were punished adamantly and may even have led to deportation, that is out of the restricted area.
The farm house the GRENZHUS is located nowadays was built in 1890 and run by the Ledeboer family. The domain with about 225 hectares of farm land and forests was then part of the county Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
In 1942, the owner was forced to join the NSDAP, the nazi party. This membership should turn out badly a few years later when he was arrested by american troops because of it in May 1945. He could escape to the bristish sector together with his family not much later.
As a result of the "Landreform" of the soviet forceds, the domain was closed down. The building was used to house refugees in the first while. Late it became the main school building for the village of Schlagsdorf and surroundings. After the nww school was opened in 1973, the GRENZHUS building was used as a kindergarden.
In 1997, the renovation works for the GRENZHUS began, which was opened on November 10, 1999, on the 10th anniversary of the border opening.
