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A stream so shallow you scarcely got your feet wet separated a settlement for in excess of four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by coniferous woods, pastures and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to straddle Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a wall. United States military personnel called it Small Berlin.

Memorialising the Past

Several months after their own division was breached, and even before their nation had become one in 1990, a assembly of residents set about documenting their past. The project is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show wasn’t quite prepared. Addressing the locals who endured the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an cruel division, which tore families apart and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal split, which pulled households apart and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Historical Context

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the community spanned the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family most famous for bestowing all its male members the designation Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the inhabitants drinking in the very same pub, going to the very same religious building and enrolling their children to the very same school.

Post-War Separation

Then came the World War II. The moment they appeared, the Russians put up wood stakes by the brook. For a annual period they took over the whole hamlet, establishing their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers persuaded them to retreat back over the stream. For a period, villagers could still cross over, though as restrictions tightened they were obliged to show identification, even though everyone was aware who they were, and to return at evening.

Increase of Frontier Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was built, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The villagers could still view each other by ascending hills, but on the Soviet side gesturing and calling out were prohibited. A local woman was placed on a East German secret police monitoring list for responding “likewise” to a western resident who said her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I heard narratives like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted a significant portion of his professional career building it. Locals were consulted at an early stage about how much barrier they wished to maintain. They selected a section on the west fringe, close to where one of their own was able to escape in the dead of night with a ladder, following which the border was heavily strengthened.

Preserved Structures

A pair of observation towers are conserved in addition to a collection of displays showing the most dramatic moments in the village’s past. As we move, the director enumerates the rules: nobody could come within 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers required special permission to look after their crops; the husband or wife could use the agricultural equipment but never the pair, lest they tried to flee. Soldiers were on duty.

Larger Perspective

The border between the Federal Republic and the GDR extended nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to this location in the south. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the greatest, but in excess of double the number persons (exceeding 300) died attempting to traverse it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. the director tells me that 95% of efforts to cross failed.

Village Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or craftsmen, who accommodated to residing in the uncertain territory between 2 ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and tending to their farms. They nor did they backed the communist regime nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the village became a kind of destination. Approximately 15,000 came to see each year, viewing tools in hand, to gawp – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after reunification, Tannbach, a TV series about a made-up community like Mödlareuth, led to new curiosity.

Modern Developments

The launch of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, boutique, movie theater and sizable vehicle area – is expected to