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A stream so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet separated a settlement for over four decades of time. Due to a quirk of topography, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by coniferous woods, pastures and stunning views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a border that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a wall. United States military personnel called it Small Berlin.

Commemorating History

A few months after their own division was torn down, and prior to their state had reunified in 1990, a group of local people started commemorating their history. The project is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the fall of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not completely prepared. Speaking to the locals who experienced the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an cruel division, which tore families into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal division, which pulled relatives into pieces and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Historical Background

Starting at its creation in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for giving all its male members the title Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth. As Steinmeier told the crowd, the quirk never stood in the path of the inhabitants socializing in the very same inn, going to the very same place of worship and sending their kids to the identical educational institution.

Post-War Split

Then came the World War II. Immediately after they came, the Soviet forces installed timber poles by the brook. For a annual period they occupied the entire community, setting up 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 to the other side of the stream. For a while, residents could still jump across, though as limitations increased they were required to show identification, despite the fact that each person knew who they were, and to go back at night.

Increase of Frontier Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was constructed, with landmines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The villagers could continue to view each other by climbing hills, but on the eastern side signaling and calling out were prohibited. A local woman was added to a GDR intelligence monitoring list for answering “same to you” to a Bavarian resident who wished her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

I was told stories such as these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated a large part of his occupational time developing it. Locals were polled at an early stage about how what length of wall they wanted to keep. They selected a section on the Bavarian perimeter, close to where one of their own succeeded to flee in the darkest hours with a climbing device, subsequently the boundary was substantially reinforced.

Conserved Structures

Two watchtowers are preserved in addition to a collection of tableaux illustrating the most significant moments in the community’s past. As we move, Robert Lebegern details the restrictions: no one could come within 5km of the boundary. Farmers needed specific authorization to tend to their produce; the spouse could use the agricultural equipment but never the two, for fear that they attempted to flee. Soldiers stood watch.

Larger Perspective

The boundary between West Germany and the East Germany stretched 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to this location in the south. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most frequently, but over double the number people (well over 300) lost their lives attempting to cross it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern tells me that 95 percent of efforts to cross failed.

Hamlet Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or artisans, who accommodated to residing in the uncertain territory between 2 political systems by staying low-profile and caring for their land. They neither endorsed the communist regime nor fought it, Lebegern states.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the village became a kind of destination. About 15,000 visited annually, optical devices in possession, to gawp – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after unification, Tannbach, a television program about a fictional village similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in new curiosity.

Present-Day Developments

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, store, film screening area and large vehicle area – is expected to