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A stream so narrow you hardly got your ankles wet divided a village for in excess of four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by coniferous woods, fields and stunning vistas, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was established first by a barrier and then by a barricade. American soldiers dubbed it Little Berlin.

Memorialising the Past

A few months after their own division was opened, and even before their state had reunified in 1990, a collection of local people started documenting their past. The effort is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was formally opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not entirely ready. Addressing the residents who experienced the former times, Steinmeier remarked: “You were bystanders of an inhuman division, which ripped families asunder and turned neighbors into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which tore families into pieces and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Historical Context

Right from its founding in 1810, the community spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most renowned for giving all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the oddity never stood in the manner of the inhabitants gathering in the identical tavern, attending the same place of worship and enrolling their kids to the same school.

After the War Split

Next arrived the World War II. Immediately after they came, the Russians put up wooden posts by the creek. For a year they occupied the whole hamlet, setting up their command in a house on the western side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The US forces convinced them to withdraw across the stream. For a period, villagers could still hop over, though as controls tightened they were required to show identity papers, despite the fact that everyone understood who they were, and to come back at night.

Intensification of Boundary Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was erected, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The residents could continue to observe each other by ascending slopes, but on the Soviet side signaling and calling out were prohibited. A local woman was put on a East German secret police surveillance list for replying “likewise” to a western local who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Creation

It was related to me stories including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has devoted a significant portion of his working life creating it. Villagers were consulted in the initial phases about how what length of barrier they desired to preserve. They chose a portion on the western perimeter, adjacent to where one of their own succeeded to escape in the dead of night with a climbing device, subsequently the frontier was heavily strengthened.

Preserved Structures

2 watchtowers are maintained alongside a series of displays depicting the most significant moments in the village’s history. As we move, Robert Lebegern enumerates the rules: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers required special permission to look after their fields; the spouse could work the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances the pair, in case they sought to flee. Soldiers were on duty.

Broader Context

The border between West Germany and the GDR ran 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and documented the most frequently, but over two times more individuals (well over 300) died attempting to traverse it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. the director informs me that 95% of attempts to flee failed.

Hamlet Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or artisans, who adjusted to residing in the ambiguous area between 2 belief systems by keeping their heads down and tending to their farms. They did not supported the socialist government nor fought it, the director clarifies.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the village became a sort of destination. Approximately 15,000 visited every year, viewing tools in their hands, to gawp – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

25 years after unification, Tannbach, a television program about a imaginary village resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh interest.

Present-Day Changes

The launch of the recently established museum – with a cafe, boutique, film screening area and large car park – is probable to