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An creek so narrow you barely got your feet wet split a settlement for in excess of four decades of time. Because of a chance of geography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement encircled by coniferous woods, pastures and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross Bavaria, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was marked first by a fence and then by a wall. US troops dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

Months after their own wall was opened, and before their country had become one in 1990, a group of local people started commemorating their past. The work is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the demolition of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not completely prepared. Speaking to the residents who endured the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an cruel division, which ripped relatives asunder and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel division, which tore families asunder and turned local residents into strangers.”

Past Background

Even at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a princely house best known for bestowing all its men the designation Heinrich and counting them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the peculiarity never stood in the manner of the residents socializing in the identical inn, going to the same place of worship and placing their young ones to the very same school.

After the War Division

Next arrived the global conflict. The moment they came, the Soviet forces erected wooden posts by the creek. For a annual period they occupied the whole hamlet, creating their command in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to pull back back over the creek. For a while, villagers could still jump across, though as limitations became stricter they were required to present identification, although each person understood who they were, and to come back at night.

Increase of Frontier Measures

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was built, with mines, tank traps and watchtowers. The villagers could continue to observe each other by ascending elevations, but on the east side gesturing and yelling were prohibited. One woman was put on a East German secret police surveillance list for answering “same to you” to a western villager who greeted her “happy new year”.

Museum Development

I heard accounts including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent a large part of his professional career developing it. Locals were polled at an early stage about how how long a section structure they desired to maintain. They opted for a section on the west perimeter, near where a local resident succeeded to flee in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, following which the border was heavily reinforced.

Maintained Installations

2 observation towers are conserved together with a set of displays illustrating the most dramatic events in the village’s history. As we walk, the director enumerates the restrictions: no one could come within 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers had to obtain particular approval to care for their produce; the husband or wife could work the harvesting machine but not the pair, in case they sought to flee. Military personnel kept guard.

Wider Background

The border between the Federal Republic and the East Germany stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and documented the most frequently, but more than double the number individuals (more than 300) lost their lives trying to cross it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95 percent of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Village Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or craftsmen, who accommodated to residing in the grey zone between two political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their farms. They did not endorsed the communist regime nor resisted it, Lebegern clarifies.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a kind of pilgrimage. Approximately 15k came to see each year, binoculars in hand, to stare – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

25 years after reunification, the television series, a television program about a made-up village similar to Mödlareuth, caused fresh interest.

Current Developments

The opening of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, boutique, film screening area and big car park – is probable to