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An stream so low you hardly got your feet wet separated a community for more than four decades of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by evergreen groves, fields and stunning scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was established first by a fence and then by a partition. American soldiers nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating History

A few months after their own barrier was breached, and even before their state had reunified in 1990, a assembly of local people set about commemorating their heritage. The work is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not completely prepared. Telling the locals who experienced the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which ripped households apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were observers of an brutal division, which pulled relatives asunder and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Past Context

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for giving all its male members the designation Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the oddity did not stand in the path of the inhabitants socializing in the very same inn, visiting the same place of worship and placing their children to the identical learning center.

After the War Split

Then came the global conflict. The moment they arrived, the Russians erected wood stakes by the creek. For a twelve months they occupied the whole hamlet, creating their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans persuaded them to pull back across the stream. For a period, locals could still jump across, though as restrictions became stricter they were forced to show identification, even though all knew who they were, and to return at evening.

Intensification of Border Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was built, with explosives, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The villagers could still observe each other by scaling slopes, but on the east side signaling and calling out were prohibited. A local woman was put on a GDR intelligence surveillance list for replying “back at you” to a Bavarian local who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I was told stories including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has devoted much of his occupational time creating it. Villagers were consulted at an early stage about how what length of structure they wanted to maintain. They opted for a portion on the west fringe, near where a local resident was able to get away in the darkest hours with a ladder, following which the border was substantially reinforced.

Conserved Buildings

2 observation towers are conserved together with a collection of exhibits illustrating the most significant events in the community’s past. As we move, the director lists the restrictions: no one could come within 5km of the border. Farmers needed special permission to look after their produce; the spouse could work the agricultural equipment but not both, for fear that they attempted to escape. Military personnel stood watch.

Larger Context

The border between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic ran 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and documented the most, but over twice as many people (exceeding 300) were killed trying to cross it in provincial zones than in the big city. Robert Lebegern informs me that almost all of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Hamlet Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or skilled workers, who accommodated to dwelling in the ambiguous area between two ideological spheres by staying low-profile and looking after their farms. They did not backed the socialist government nor resisted it, the director states.

Interest

For tourists, however, the settlement became a type of destination. Roughly 15,000 visited every year, optical devices in their hands, to gawp – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

25 years after unification, Tannbach, a television program about a fictional hamlet like Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh curiosity.

Current Evolutions

The inauguration of the new museum – with a cafe, boutique, movie theater and large vehicle area – is expected to