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A stream so shallow you hardly got your ankles wet separated a settlement for more than four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement encircled by coniferous woods, fields and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was established first by a enclosure and then by a partition. US troops called it Little Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

A few months after their own barrier was torn down, and before their nation had become one in 1990, a group of local people began documenting their history. The work is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show was not completely finished. Telling the villagers who endured the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an cruel division, which pulled families into pieces and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an cruel division, which tore households into pieces and turned local residents into aliens.”

Past Background

Starting at its founding in 1810, the village cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a royal family most famous for bestowing all its men the name Heinrich and counting them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the oddity never stood in the way of the inhabitants socializing in the very same pub, going to the very same church and sending their young ones to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Separation

Subsequently occurred the World War II. The moment they arrived, the Russian troops put up timber poles by the brook. For a annual period they occupied the complete community, creating their command in a building on the western side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans urged them to pull back back over the creek. For a time, villagers could still cross over, though as restrictions became stricter they were obliged to display identification, despite the fact that each person was aware who they were, and to return at after dark.

Increase of Border Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was built, with explosives, vehicle barriers and observation points. The residents could still view each other by ascending elevations, but on the east side gesturing and yelling were forbidden. One woman was placed on a GDR intelligence surveillance list for replying “same to you” to a western local who wished her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

I heard stories like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent a large part of his working life developing it. Residents were polled early on about how much structure they desired to preserve. They selected a section on the western fringe, adjacent to where one of their own was able to flee in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, following which the boundary was heavily strengthened.

Maintained Buildings

2 guard towers are conserved together with a set of exhibits showing the most dramatic events in the village’s past. As we move, the director enumerates the restrictions: no one could approach 5km of the boundary. Farmers required particular approval to look after their produce; the husband or wife could use the combine harvester but under no circumstances the pair, lest they sought to make a run for it. Soldiers kept guard.

Broader Background

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the GDR ran 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and honored the most frequently, but in excess of double the number people (well over 300) lost their lives trying to traverse it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Lebegern reminds me that almost all of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Village Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were rural laborers or craftsmen, who accommodated to living in the uncertain territory between 2 political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their land. They did not supported the socialist government nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern states.

Interest

For visitors, however, the village became a type of destination. Approximately 15k came to see annually, binoculars in possession, to gawp – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

25 years after unification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a imaginary hamlet similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in new curiosity.

Modern Developments

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, shop, cinema room and sizable vehicle area – is likely to