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An creek so low you barely got your ankles wet split a settlement for in excess of four decades of time. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by evergreen groves, fields and stunning views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to span Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was established first by a fence and then by a wall. United States military personnel dubbed it Little Berlin.

Preserving History

Months after their own division was breached, and even before their state had become one in 1990, a assembly of villagers began commemorating their heritage. The effort is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite finished. Speaking to the villagers who endured the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an inhuman division, which tore relatives apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which tore relatives into pieces and turned local residents into strangers.”

Bygone Background

Starting at its founding in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most famous for giving all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the quirk did not stand in the way of the inhabitants drinking in the same tavern, going to the identical religious building and enrolling their children to the identical educational institution.

Following WWII Separation

Next arrived the World War II. As soon as they arrived, the Russian troops erected timber poles by the stream. For a year they occupied the whole hamlet, establishing their control center in a house on the western side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers urged them to withdraw to the other side of the creek. For a period, villagers could continue to hop over, though as limitations tightened they were obliged to present identity papers, despite the fact that all understood who they were, and to go back at evening.

Increase of Frontier Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was constructed, with landmines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The locals could still view each other by ascending hills, but on the eastern side signaling and yelling were forbidden. One woman was placed on a East German secret police watch list for replying “same to you” to a West German villager who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

I was told stories such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted a large part of his occupational time creating it. Locals were asked at an early stage about how how long a section structure they wanted to preserve. They opted for a portion on the west fringe, close to where one of their own was able to flee in the dead of night with a ladder, after which the boundary was significantly fortified.

Maintained Buildings

2 watchtowers are preserved in addition to a set of exhibits showing the most impactful dates in the community’s chronicle. As we walk, the director lists the regulations: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the border. Agricultural workers required special permission to tend to their fields; the spouse could operate the harvesting machine but not the pair, for fear that they sought to make a run for it. Military personnel were on duty.

Larger Perspective

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the GDR ran 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is recalled and documented the greatest, but over twice as many people (exceeding 300) were killed seeking to cross it in rural areas than in the metropolis. the director tells me that 95 percent of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Village Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or skilled workers, who adjusted to dwelling in the grey zone between 2 belief systems by staying low-profile and tending to their fields. They did not backed the communist regime nor resisted it, Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a sort of destination. Approximately fifteen thousand came to visit every year, optical devices in hand, to stare – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after merger, Tannbach, a TV series about a made-up village resembling Mödlareuth, led to fresh attention.

Modern Changes

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, store, film screening area and large car park – is probable to