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A creek so shallow you barely got your ankles wet divided a village for more than four decades. By an accident of topography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by pine forests, meadows and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the misfortune to cross the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a boundary that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a barricade. United States military personnel called it Small Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

Months after their own wall was opened, and prior to their country had unified again in 1990, a assembly of local people began commemorating their heritage. The work is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display was not completely ready. Addressing the residents who endured the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an brutal division, which tore families asunder and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which ripped families asunder and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Past Origins

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the village spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most renowned for assigning all its men the designation Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the oddity never stood in the way of the inhabitants gathering in the identical inn, visiting the same church and sending their young ones to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Separation

Subsequently occurred the second world war. Immediately after they came, the Russians erected timber poles by the creek. For a twelve months they took over the whole hamlet, establishing their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to withdraw to the other side of the stream. For a while, villagers could continue to jump across, though as controls increased they were required to display ID, although each person knew who they were, and to return at evening.

Increase of Frontier Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was built, with landmines, tank traps and guard posts. The residents could continue to observe each other by ascending slopes, but on the Soviet side gesturing and shouting were forbidden. A female resident was put on a Stasi monitoring list for replying “back at you” to a western villager who said her “happy new year”.

Museum Establishment

It was related to me accounts like these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a large part of his working life building it. Residents were polled early on about how what length of barrier they desired to keep. They opted for a stretch on the Bavarian perimeter, adjacent to where a villager succeeded to escape in the dead of night with a climbing device, after which the frontier was significantly reinforced.

Preserved Structures

2 observation towers are conserved together with a collection of displays depicting the most impactful moments in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we walk, Robert Lebegern lists the regulations: nobody could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Farmers needed specific authorization to tend to their crops; the spouse could use the agricultural equipment but never the pair, for fear that they tried to flee. Soldiers kept guard.

Broader Context

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and honored the most frequently, but more than double the number people (more than 300) died seeking to pass over it in countryside regions than in the big city. Robert Lebegern reminds me that almost all of escape attempts did not succeed.

Community Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or craftsmen, who adapted to dwelling in the grey zone between 2 political systems by avoiding attention and caring for their farms. They did not supported the East German authorities nor fought it, the director states.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the village became a kind of pilgrimage. Approximately 15,000 came to see annually, binoculars in possession, to look – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

25 years after unification, Tannbach, a television program about a fictional community resembling Mödlareuth, caused new interest.

Modern Changes

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