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A stream so low you hardly got your feet wet separated a village for more than four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by coniferous woods, pastures and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a frontier that was established first by a fence and then by a barricade. United States military personnel dubbed it Little Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

Months after their own wall was breached, and before their nation had unified again in 1990, a assembly of residents started memorialising their past. The work is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the demolition of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not completely ready. Telling the residents who endured the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an cruel division, which pulled households asunder and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were observers of an inhuman split, which pulled households apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Bygone Context

Right from its creation in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most famous for bestowing all its men the title Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the quirk was never an obstacle in the manner of the residents gathering in the same inn, attending the identical church and enrolling their kids to the identical educational institution.

After the War Division

Subsequently occurred the second world war. Immediately after they arrived, the Russians installed wooden posts by the brook. For a year they occupied the complete community, creating their control center in a building on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The US forces urged them to pull back across the creek. For a period, residents could still cross over, though as restrictions increased they were required to present identity papers, despite the fact that each person was aware who they were, and to return at after dark.

Intensification of Frontier Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was built, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and guard posts. The residents could still see each other by ascending elevations, but on the Soviet side gesturing and calling out were forbidden. A local woman was added to a Stasi monitoring list for answering “likewise” to a West German local who wished her “happy new year”.

Museum Development

It was related to me accounts like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated a large part of his occupational time developing it. Residents were polled early on about how what length of barrier they wished to preserve. They opted for a section on the Bavarian fringe, adjacent to where a local resident managed to get away in the middle of the night with a climbing device, subsequently the frontier was significantly strengthened.

Conserved Installations

Two observation towers are conserved together with a set of displays showing the most significant dates in the hamlet’s history. As we move, Robert Lebegern lists the rules: nobody could come within 5km of the boundary. Farmers required specific authorization to look after their produce; the husband or wife could work the harvesting machine but not the pair, for fear that they sought to escape. Armed guards stood watch.

Larger Perspective

The border between the Federal Republic and the GDR ran 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south in the south. Berlin is remembered and documented the most, but over twice as many people (more than 300) were killed trying to traverse it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. the director informs me that 95% of escape attempts did not succeed.

Hamlet Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or skilled workers, who accommodated to living in the grey zone between two belief systems by staying low-profile and looking after their land. They nor did they supported the communist regime nor resisted it, Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a kind of site of interest. Roughly fifteen thousand visited annually, viewing tools in their hands, to stare – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty five years after reunification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a imaginary hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, caused new curiosity.

Current Developments

The opening of the recently established museum – with a cafe, boutique, film screening area and big vehicle area – is probable to