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An stream so low you barely got your ankles wet separated a settlement for more than four decades of time. By an accident of topography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by evergreen groves, pastures and breathtaking views, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the bad luck to span Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was marked first by a barrier and then by a partition. American soldiers dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

Several months after their own barrier was torn down, and before their state had unified again in 1990, a collection of local people began memorialising their past. The effort is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display wasn’t quite prepared. Telling the residents who experienced the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which ripped relatives into pieces and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which tore households into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Past Origins

Right from its founding in 1810, the village straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for bestowing all its male members the designation Heinrich and counting them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the oddity was never an obstacle in the manner of the inhabitants socializing in the very same inn, going to the same church and placing their young ones to the same learning center.

Post-War Split

Subsequently occurred the second world war. As soon as they appeared, the Russians put up wood stakes by the stream. For a twelve months they seized the entire hamlet, creating their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The US forces urged them to withdraw across the brook. For a while, locals could still cross over, though as controls became stricter they were forced to show identification, even though all understood who they were, and to return at after dark.

Escalation of Frontier Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was built, with landmines, tank traps and observation points. The residents could still view each other by scaling hills, but on the eastern side gesturing and calling out were prohibited. One woman was placed on a GDR intelligence surveillance list for responding “likewise” to a western villager who greeted her “happy new year”.

Exhibition Center Creation

It was related to me stories such as these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has devoted a large part of his working life developing it. Residents were polled at an early stage about how much barrier they wished to keep. They opted for a portion on the west perimeter, near where a local resident was able to escape in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, subsequently the border was heavily reinforced.

Conserved Buildings

A pair of guard towers are conserved in addition to a collection of tableaux showing the most significant moments in the village’s history. As we move, Robert Lebegern lists the regulations: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the border. Rural residents required specific authorization to care for their crops; the spouse could use the combine harvester but not the pair, lest they sought to flee. Military personnel were on duty.

Wider Background

The border between Western Germany and the East Germany stretched 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and documented the most frequently, but over two times more persons (exceeding 300) lost their lives attempting to cross it in rural areas than in the big city. the director tells me that almost all of escape attempts failed.

Community Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were rural laborers or artisans, who adjusted to residing in the grey zone between two ideological spheres by staying low-profile and tending to their fields. They nor did they backed the socialist government nor opposed it, Lebegern clarifies.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the settlement became a sort of pilgrimage. Approximately 15k visited annually, binoculars in possession, to stare – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the television series, a TV series about a imaginary community resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed interest.

Present-Day Evolutions

The launch of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, boutique, film screening area and large car park – is expected to