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An creek so shallow you hardly got your feet wet split a village for more than four decades worth of time. By an accident of geography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by pine forests, meadows and stunning scenery, found themselves at the center of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a frontier that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a wall. American soldiers dubbed it Small Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Months after their own barrier was breached, and prior to their nation had become one in 1990, a collection of villagers began commemorating their heritage. The project is close to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the collapse of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition was not completely finished. Addressing the residents who experienced the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an cruel division, which tore families into pieces and turned neighbors into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which tore households asunder and turned local residents into strangers.”

Past Background

Even at its founding in 1810, the community cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most famous for bestowing all its male members the name Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the quirk did not stand in the manner of the residents socializing in the identical inn, attending the identical church and sending their children to the same learning center.

After the War Split

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. As soon as they arrived, the Russian troops put up timber poles by the creek. For a twelve months they occupied the entire hamlet, setting up their headquarters in a building on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The US forces urged them to retreat across the brook. For a period, residents could still hop over, though as controls became stricter they were forced to show ID, although everyone understood who they were, and to return at evening.

Intensification of Border Measures

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was constructed, with mines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The locals could still view each other by scaling hills, but on the Soviet side waving and calling out were prohibited. A local woman was added to a Stasi watch list for replying “same to you” to a Bavarian local who said her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Development

I was told accounts like these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent much of his occupational time building it. Villagers were polled in the initial phases about how how long a section barrier they wished to maintain. They selected a section on the Bavarian perimeter, near where one of their own succeeded to get away in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, after which the boundary was substantially reinforced.

Preserved Buildings

A pair of observation towers are preserved in addition to a set of displays depicting the most dramatic events in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we walk, Lebergen details the restrictions: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers needed special permission to look after their crops; the husband or wife could use the agricultural equipment but never the two, in case they sought to escape. Soldiers kept guard.

Larger Perspective

The border between Western Germany and the East Germany stretched 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is remembered and honored the most, but more than two times more persons (more than 300) died seeking to cross it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95 percent of efforts to cross were unsuccessful.

Village Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or craftsmen, who adapted to dwelling in the uncertain territory between 2 ideological spheres by avoiding attention and looking after their land. They did not supported the communist regime nor fought it, Robert Lebegern states.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a sort of site of interest. About 15k visited every year, binoculars in their hands, to stare – and then rapidly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after merger, Tannbach, a television program about a imaginary community resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in new interest.

Present-Day Developments

The inauguration of the new museum – with a coffee shop, store, cinema room and big parking lot – is likely to