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An creek so low you barely got your feet wet separated a settlement for in excess of four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of topography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by coniferous woods, pastures and stunning views, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a border that was marked first by a enclosure and then by a wall. US troops called it Small Berlin.

Preserving the Past

Several months after their own barrier was opened, and prior to their country had reunified in 1990, a assembly of local people set about commemorating their history. The work is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the fall of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not completely prepared. Addressing the villagers who lived through the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an inhuman separation, which tore households into pieces and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were observers of an inhuman split, which tore relatives apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Historical Context

Even at its founding in 1810, the community straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for bestowing all its male members the name Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the inhabitants drinking in the identical tavern, visiting the same place of worship and enrolling their children to the identical educational institution.

Following WWII Division

Next arrived the global conflict. Immediately after they appeared, the Soviet forces installed wooden posts by the brook. For a twelve months they occupied the whole community, creating their control center in a building on the western side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The US forces convinced them to withdraw across the creek. For a period, locals could still cross over, though as controls tightened they were required to present identity papers, even though everyone knew who they were, and to return at evening.

Escalation of Boundary Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was erected, with mines, tank traps and guard posts. The locals could continue to view each other by climbing elevations, but on the Soviet side signaling and yelling were prohibited. A local woman was placed on a Stasi watch list for responding “back at you” to a West German local who said her “happy new year”.

Exhibition Center Establishment

I heard stories including these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent a large part of his professional career building it. Residents were asked at an early stage about how how long a section wall they desired to preserve. They chose a stretch on the Bavarian perimeter, close to where a villager succeeded to flee in the middle of the night with a climbing device, following which the border was heavily fortified.

Preserved Buildings

A pair of watchtowers are conserved together with a series of exhibits illustrating the most dramatic events in the community’s chronicle. As we move, the director lists the rules: not a single person could come within 5km of the border. Rural residents required special permission to care for their fields; the partner could work the agricultural equipment but never the two, lest they sought to make a run for it. Military personnel stood watch.

Larger Background

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the GDR ran 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and honored the greatest, but over double the number people (exceeding 300) lost their lives trying to pass over it in rural areas than in the metropolis. the director informs me that 95% of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Community Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or skilled workers, who adjusted to living in the grey zone between 2 belief systems by staying low-profile and tending to their fields. They did not endorsed the socialist government nor resisted it, the director explains.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a type of pilgrimage. Roughly 15k visited each year, viewing tools in hand, to look – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after merger, the television series, a television program about a made-up village like Mödlareuth, led to renewed interest.

Modern Changes

The opening of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, boutique, film screening area and sizable parking lot – is probable to