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A creek so narrow you barely got your ankles wet divided a community for in excess of four decades of time. Because of a chance of topography, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement encircled by coniferous woods, fields and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a frontier that was established first by a enclosure and then by a partition. US troops dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating History

Months after their own division was torn down, and prior to their country had reunified in 1990, a group of residents set about memorialising their history. The effort is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display wasn’t quite prepared. Telling the villagers who experienced the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which tore families asunder and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman separation, which tore households asunder and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

Historical Background

Even at its creation in 1810, the community spanned the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for assigning all its men the designation Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the path of the inhabitants gathering in the same tavern, attending the identical religious building and sending their young ones to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Division

Then came the global conflict. The moment they arrived, the Russians erected wooden posts by the stream. For a year they seized the entire hamlet, establishing their headquarters in a building on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers persuaded them to withdraw to the other side of the stream. For a while, locals could still hop over, though as controls increased they were required to show identification, despite the fact that each person knew who they were, and to return at night.

Increase of Boundary Measures

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was constructed, with mines, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The locals could continue to observe each other by climbing hills, but on the eastern side gesturing and calling out were prohibited. A female resident was put on a Stasi monitoring list for responding “same to you” to a western local who wished her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

It was related to me narratives such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted a significant portion of his professional career developing it. Residents were polled in the initial phases about how how long a section barrier they desired to maintain. They chose a portion on the western edge, near where a local resident was able to flee in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, subsequently the boundary was substantially reinforced.

Conserved Structures

A pair of watchtowers are conserved alongside a set of exhibits illustrating the most dramatic moments in the village’s history. As we walk, Robert Lebegern details the regulations: nobody could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers needed special permission to look after their crops; the husband or wife could operate the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances the two, for fear that they sought to flee. Armed guards were on duty.

Wider Perspective

The boundary between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the north to this location in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the most frequently, but in excess of twice as many persons (well over 300) were killed trying to pass over it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern tells me that 95% of efforts to cross failed.

Village Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or artisans, who adjusted to dwelling in the uncertain territory between two political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their land. They did not backed the communist regime nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a type of destination. Approximately 15,000 came to visit annually, viewing tools in their hands, to gawp – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

25 years after merger, the TV show, a television program about a imaginary village like Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh interest.

Modern Developments

The launch of the new museum – with a restaurant, store, film screening area and big car park – is expected to