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An stream so shallow you barely got your feet wet separated a community for over four decades of time. Due to a quirk of topography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement encircled by coniferous woods, fields and stunning scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to span the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a border that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a partition. US troops nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating History

A few months after their own barrier was opened, and even before their state had unified again in 1990, a collection of villagers started commemorating their past. The project is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the fall of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the display was not completely ready. Speaking to the villagers who lived through the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which tore families apart and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel division, which ripped families into pieces and turned local residents into aliens.”

Historical Origins

Right from its establishment in 1810, the village straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for giving all its male descendants the title Heinrich and counting them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the manner of the residents socializing in the very same tavern, going to the identical place of worship and enrolling their kids to the very same educational institution.

Post-War Division

Next arrived the World War II. As soon as they came, the Russians put up timber poles by the stream. For a year they seized the entire village, creating their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans convinced them to pull back to the other side of the brook. For a while, villagers could continue to cross over, though as restrictions increased they were required to present identification, even though all was aware who they were, and to return at evening.

Intensification of Boundary Measures

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal sealing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was erected, with explosives, vehicle barriers and observation points. The residents could still observe each other by climbing elevations, but on the east side waving and yelling were prohibited. One woman was added to a GDR intelligence watch list for replying “back at you” to a western local who greeted her “good new year”.

Museum Establishment

It was related to me accounts like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated a large part of his working life developing it. Villagers were consulted at an early stage about how much wall they wished to preserve. They selected a section on the western perimeter, near where a villager was able to flee in the dead of night with a climbing device, subsequently the frontier was significantly fortified.

Preserved Structures

2 guard towers are maintained in addition to a collection of tableaux depicting the most significant events in the village’s past. As we walk, Lebergen enumerates the restrictions: no one could come within 5km of the boundary. Farmers had to obtain specific authorization to tend to their fields; the spouse could operate the combine harvester but under no circumstances the two, lest they attempted to flee. Armed guards were on duty.

Broader Perspective

The border between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the north to this location in the south. Berlin is recalled and documented the most, but in excess of two times more people (exceeding 300) lost their lives attempting to cross it in countryside regions than in the big city. Robert Lebegern reminds me that almost all of efforts to cross were unsuccessful.

Village Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or craftsmen, who accommodated to living in the uncertain territory between a pair of ideological spheres by avoiding attention and caring for their fields. They neither backed the communist regime nor fought it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the village became a type of destination. Roughly fifteen thousand came to visit each year, viewing tools in hand, to look – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after merger, Tannbach, a TV series about a fictional village resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh curiosity.

Modern Evolutions

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, store, movie theater and big car park – is expected to