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A creek so shallow you hardly got your ankles wet split a settlement for over four decades of time. By an accident of landscape, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by coniferous woods, meadows and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was marked first by a enclosure and then by a wall. American soldiers nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

A few months after their own barrier was opened, and prior to their state had reunified in 1990, a assembly of residents set about documenting their past. The work is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the demolition of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was publicly opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show was not entirely finished. Telling the residents who lived through the former times, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which tore households apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an cruel division, which pulled relatives into pieces and turned local residents into aliens.”

Past Background

Right from its creation in 1810, the community straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for bestowing all its men the name Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the path of the inhabitants socializing in the very same inn, attending the very same church and enrolling their young ones to the same school.

Following WWII Separation

Next arrived the World War II. As soon as they arrived, the Russian troops erected timber poles by the creek. For a annual period they seized the entire hamlet, establishing their headquarters in a building on the western side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers convinced them to pull back to the other side of the stream. For a time, residents could still cross over, though as limitations became stricter they were required to present identity papers, despite the fact that all knew who they were, and to return at night.

Escalation of Boundary Controls

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was constructed, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The residents could continue to see each other by ascending elevations, but on the east side signaling and shouting were forbidden. A female resident was placed on a East German secret police surveillance list for responding “back at you” to a West German local who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I was told narratives such as these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a large part of his professional career developing it. Villagers were asked at an early stage about how much wall they wished to maintain. They selected a portion on the Bavarian fringe, adjacent to where a local resident managed to escape in the dead of night with a ladder, following which the boundary was significantly reinforced.

Preserved Buildings

2 watchtowers are preserved alongside a series of displays illustrating the most significant moments in the village’s history. As we walk, Lebergen details the regulations: nobody could approach 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers had to obtain special permission to care for their crops; the partner could operate the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the pair, in case they attempted to flee. Armed guards stood watch.

Broader Context

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic extended nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is recalled and honored the greatest, but more than twice as many people (well over 300) lost their lives seeking to traverse it in rural areas than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95 percent of efforts to cross failed.

Hamlet Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or artisans, who adjusted to residing in the ambiguous area between 2 ideological spheres by staying low-profile and caring for their fields. They nor did they endorsed the communist regime nor resisted it, Lebegern states.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a kind of destination. Roughly fifteen thousand came to visit annually, viewing tools in hand, to look – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty five years after unification, the TV show, a broadcast production about a imaginary village resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh curiosity.

Present-Day Changes

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, store, cinema room and big parking lot – is likely to