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A stream so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet separated a village for more than four decades worth of time. Because of a chance of topography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by evergreen groves, pastures and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was marked first by a barrier and then by a wall. American soldiers dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

Several months after their own barrier was torn down, and before their country had become one in 1990, a assembly of villagers began commemorating their past. The project is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was officially inaugurated by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not entirely finished. Speaking to the locals who endured the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an inhuman separation, which pulled families asunder and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman separation, which tore households apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Bygone Background

Right from its founding in 1810, the community cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for assigning all its male descendants the name Heinrich and counting them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the manner of the inhabitants socializing in the very same pub, visiting the very same church and sending their children to the very same educational institution.

After the War Split

Then came the World War II. Immediately after they appeared, the Soviet forces put up timber poles by the stream. For a annual period they seized the complete community, setting up their command in a building on the western side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans urged them to pull back back over the brook. For a time, residents could still hop over, though as restrictions increased they were obliged to present identification, even though each person understood who they were, and to return at after dark.

Increase of Boundary Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was constructed, with mines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The residents could still observe each other by scaling hills, but on the Soviet side gesturing and shouting were forbidden. A female resident was put on a Stasi monitoring list for responding “back at you” to a West German local who said her “good new year”.

Museum Development

I heard stories such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a significant portion of his working life building it. Residents were asked at an early stage about how what length of wall they desired to preserve. They selected a portion on the Bavarian fringe, near where a villager managed to escape in the darkest hours with a climbing device, after which the border was substantially fortified.

Preserved Structures

A pair of observation towers are preserved in addition to a set of exhibits depicting the most significant events in the hamlet’s past. As we move, Robert Lebegern enumerates the rules: nobody could approach 5km of the border. Rural residents had to obtain specific authorization to look after their crops; the spouse could operate the harvesting machine but never the two, for fear that they attempted to escape. Soldiers kept guard.

Wider Context

The frontier between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched 1,400km, from the northern sea in the north to the south in the south. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most, but in excess of double the number persons (exceeding 300) died trying to cross it in countryside regions than in the urban center. the director reminds me that almost all of escape attempts did not succeed.

Community Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or artisans, who accommodated to living in the uncertain territory between 2 political systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their farms. They nor did they backed the socialist government nor fought it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a kind of destination. Roughly fifteen thousand came to see annually, binoculars in hand, to gawp – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after merger, the TV show, a television program about a imaginary hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, led to fresh curiosity.

Current Developments

The opening of the new museum – with a restaurant, boutique, movie theater and big car park – is likely to