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An creek so shallow you hardly got your ankles wet separated a settlement for more than four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by evergreen groves, fields and stunning views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a frontier that was marked first by a barrier and then by a wall. United States military personnel called it Little Berlin.

Memorialising the Past

Months after their own barrier was torn down, and even before their nation had become one in 1990, a collection of local people began documenting their past. The project is about to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth remembrance of the fall of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was formally inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite finished. Speaking to the locals who lived through the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were observers of an brutal split, which pulled households into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were observers of an cruel separation, which ripped families into pieces and turned local residents into strangers.”

Historical Background

Starting at its creation in 1810, the community cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for bestowing all its male members the designation Heinrich and counting them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the oddity was never an obstacle in the manner of the residents drinking in the identical tavern, attending the same place of worship and placing their children to the same school.

After the War Split

Subsequently occurred the World War II. The moment they came, the Russian troops installed timber poles by the stream. For a year they took over the whole village, establishing their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers convinced them to pull back to the other side of the stream. For a period, residents could still cross over, though as restrictions increased they were obliged to display identification, even though each person understood who they were, and to come back at night.

Increase of Frontier Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was built, with mines, tank traps and watchtowers. The locals could continue to view each other by ascending elevations, but on the east side signaling and yelling were banned. A local woman was put on a Stasi monitoring list for replying “same to you” to a Bavarian villager who said her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

I heard narratives like these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent much of his occupational time building it. Residents were asked in the initial phases about how what length of structure they desired to preserve. They opted for a section on the west fringe, adjacent to where a villager was able to flee in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, after which the border was heavily fortified.

Maintained Buildings

Two observation towers are maintained together with a series of displays depicting the most significant moments in the community’s chronicle. As we stroll, Lebergen lists the restrictions: nobody could come within 5km of the boundary. Farmers needed specific authorization to care for their fields; the partner could work the combine harvester but under no circumstances the two, in case they sought to escape. Armed guards kept guard.

Larger Context

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic extended 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and honored the most, but in excess of two times more persons (more than 300) lost their lives attempting to traverse it in rural areas than in the urban center. Lebegern tells me that almost all of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Community Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or skilled workers, who adjusted to residing in the uncertain territory between 2 belief systems by staying low-profile and tending to their land. They neither backed the East German authorities nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern states.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a kind of site of interest. About fifteen thousand came to see annually, optical devices in their hands, to gawp – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after unification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a fictional community like Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh attention.

Modern Evolutions

The inauguration of the new museum – with a restaurant, store, cinema room and sizable vehicle area – is probable to