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An creek so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet divided a settlement for more than four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of landscape, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by evergreen groves, pastures and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a boundary that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. US troops called it Mini Berlin.

Preserving the Past

Several months after their own division was torn down, and even before their state had become one in 1990, a group of villagers started memorialising their history. The work is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the fall of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not entirely ready. Speaking to the locals who endured the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an inhuman division, which tore households into pieces and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an inhuman division, which tore families apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

Historical Background

Even at its creation in 1810, the community straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most famous for bestowing all its male descendants the name Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the manner of the residents gathering in the identical pub, visiting the same religious building and placing their children to the identical educational institution.

Following WWII Division

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. Immediately after they came, the Soviet forces erected wood stakes by the stream. For a annual period they occupied the whole hamlet, establishing their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans convinced them to pull back back over the stream. For a while, locals could still cross over, though as limitations became stricter they were required to show identification, although everyone was aware who they were, and to go back at night.

Increase of Border Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was constructed, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The locals could still view each other by climbing slopes, but on the eastern side signaling and shouting were banned. A local woman was put on a GDR intelligence monitoring list for answering “likewise” to a West German resident who wished her “good new year”.

Museum Establishment

I heard stories like these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated much of his working life developing it. Locals were asked early on about how what length of structure they wished to maintain. They opted for a stretch on the west edge, near where a villager succeeded to get away in the dead of night with a ladder, after which the border was significantly strengthened.

Maintained Installations

2 watchtowers are maintained in addition to a set of exhibits illustrating the most significant events in the village’s chronicle. As we move, Robert Lebegern enumerates the restrictions: no one could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers required particular approval to look after their produce; the husband or wife could work the combine harvester but never the pair, in case they attempted to escape. Armed guards kept guard.

Broader Background

The border between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic extended nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the north to this location in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most, but over twice as many persons (exceeding 300) died attempting to traverse it in provincial zones than in the big city. the director reminds me that 95 percent of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Community Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or artisans, who adapted to dwelling in the ambiguous area between 2 belief systems by staying low-profile and tending to their farms. They did not endorsed the socialist government nor fought it, Robert Lebegern states.

Interest

For tourists, however, the hamlet became a type of destination. Roughly fifteen thousand visited each year, optical devices in hand, to gawp – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

25 years after reunification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a made-up hamlet like Mödlareuth, led to renewed curiosity.

Modern Developments

The opening of the recently established museum – with a cafe, store, cinema room and large car park – is expected to