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An creek so narrow you barely got your ankles wet separated a village for more than four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by evergreen groves, pastures and stunning scenery, found themselves at the center of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. American soldiers dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

Several months after their own wall was opened, and prior to their nation had reunified in 1990, a assembly of villagers started memorialising their history. The work is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display wasn’t quite ready. Speaking to the residents who experienced the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an inhuman division, which ripped families asunder and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal split, which tore families apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Past Background

Starting at its founding in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a royal family most famous for giving all its men the title Heinrich and counting them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the oddity never stood in the manner of the locals gathering in the same tavern, going to the very same place of worship and sending their children to the same educational institution.

Following WWII Split

Then came the World War II. The moment they arrived, the Russian troops installed wood stakes by the creek. For a annual period they seized the entire village, establishing their command in a building on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces persuaded them to pull back back over the stream. For a while, residents could still cross over, though as controls increased they were required to present identity papers, even though each person understood who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Intensification of Border Measures

After that, in 1952, came barbed wire and the legal closing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was built, with explosives, tank traps and guard posts. The locals could continue to see each other by climbing hills, but on the eastern side waving and calling out were forbidden. One woman was put on a GDR intelligence monitoring list for responding “same to you” to a West German villager who said her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

It was related to me accounts including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has devoted a significant portion of his occupational time developing it. Villagers were consulted at an early stage about how what length of structure they wished to keep. They opted for a section on the Bavarian fringe, near where one of their own was able to get away in the middle of the night with a ladder, subsequently the frontier was significantly strengthened.

Maintained Structures

2 watchtowers are preserved in addition to a collection of exhibits depicting the most significant moments in the community’s past. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern enumerates the rules: no one could approach 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers had to obtain special permission to tend to their produce; the husband or wife could use the agricultural equipment but never the two, lest they attempted to flee. Military personnel were on duty.

Wider Perspective

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the East Germany extended 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the north to this location in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and honored the most frequently, but over double the number people (exceeding 300) died attempting to pass over it in provincial zones than in the urban center. the director reminds me that 95% of escape attempts failed.

Village Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or artisans, who adjusted to residing in the uncertain territory between 2 belief systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their land. They neither endorsed the East German authorities nor fought it, the director explains.

Interest

For tourists, however, the hamlet became a kind of site of interest. Approximately fifteen thousand came to see each year, optical devices in hand, to stare – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty five years after reunification, the television series, a television program about a fictional hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, caused renewed interest.

Modern Changes

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, store, film screening area and large vehicle area – is expected to