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An stream so narrow you hardly got your feet wet separated a community for over four decades of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by coniferous woods, pastures and breathtaking views, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the bad luck to cross the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was established first by a barrier and then by a wall. American soldiers nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

A few months after their own barrier was breached, and prior to their nation had unified again in 1990, a group of residents started commemorating their past. The project is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the demolition of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not entirely finished. Addressing the residents who lived through the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an inhuman division, which pulled relatives asunder and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel split, which tore relatives into pieces and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Historical Background

Right from its founding in 1810, the hamlet cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage best known for giving all its male descendants the name Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the peculiarity never stood in the path of the inhabitants socializing in the very same inn, visiting the very same church and placing their kids to the same learning center.

Following WWII Division

Then came the World War II. The moment they arrived, the Soviet forces put up wooden posts by the stream. For a annual period they seized the whole village, establishing their control center in a house on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces convinced them to withdraw to the other side of the brook. For a time, residents could still jump across, though as limitations tightened they were required to present identity papers, although everyone was aware who they were, and to go back at night.

Intensification of Border Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was built, with mines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The locals could continue to see each other by scaling elevations, but on the east side gesturing and calling out were prohibited. A female resident was placed on a East German secret police monitoring list for answering “likewise” to a Bavarian local who greeted her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

It was related to me stories like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has devoted a large part of his occupational time creating it. Villagers were asked at an early stage about how much wall they desired to maintain. They chose a portion on the Bavarian fringe, near where one of their own was able to get away in the dead of night with a climbing device, after which the border was significantly reinforced.

Maintained Structures

A pair of watchtowers are maintained in addition to a series of displays depicting the most significant dates in the village’s past. As we stroll, the director lists the regulations: no one could approach 5km of the border. Agricultural workers required particular approval to look after their crops; the husband or wife could use the combine harvester but never the pair, in case they tried to flee. Armed guards kept guard.

Broader Context

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the north to here in the south. Berlin is remembered and documented the most, but in excess of double the number people (well over 300) lost their lives attempting to pass over it in provincial zones than in the big city. the director reminds me that 95% of efforts to cross did not succeed.

Hamlet Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or skilled workers, who adjusted to dwelling in the grey zone between 2 ideological spheres by staying low-profile and looking after their land. They did not endorsed the East German authorities nor fought it, Lebegern explains.

Interest

For visitors, however, the settlement became a sort of destination. Roughly 15,000 visited each year, viewing tools in their hands, to gawp – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after reunification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a made-up community resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh interest.

Current Changes

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, shop, film screening area and large car park – is probable to