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An stream so low you barely got your ankles wet split a community for more than four decades of time. Because of a chance of geography, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement encircled by coniferous woods, pastures and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to cross Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a boundary that was marked first by a barrier and then by a barricade. United States military personnel called it Little Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Months after their own barrier was torn down, and even before their nation had become one in 1990, a assembly of residents started commemorating their heritage. The project is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was publicly inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite prepared. Telling the villagers who experienced the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which pulled families apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman separation, which pulled households apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Historical Background

Starting at its creation in 1810, the hamlet cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most famous for giving all its male members the name Heinrich and counting them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the quirk did not stand in the way of the inhabitants gathering in the identical inn, attending the same church and enrolling their kids to the identical educational institution.

After the War Split

Subsequently occurred the World War II. The moment they arrived, the Soviet forces installed wood stakes by the creek. For a twelve months they seized the entire village, creating their command in a dwelling on the western side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers urged them to retreat to the other side of the brook. For a time, villagers could still hop over, though as limitations increased they were forced to show identification, despite the fact that everyone understood who they were, and to go back at night.

Intensification of Boundary Controls

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was constructed, with landmines, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The locals could still view each other by climbing slopes, but on the eastern side gesturing and shouting were banned. One woman was placed on a GDR intelligence watch list for answering “back at you” to a Bavarian resident who said her “happy new year”.

Museum Establishment

I heard stories like these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent much of his occupational time developing it. Villagers were consulted in the initial phases about how what length of barrier they wanted to preserve. They chose a section on the west edge, adjacent to where one of their own succeeded to get away in the dead of night with a scaling tool, subsequently the boundary was substantially strengthened.

Conserved Structures

2 observation towers are preserved together with a collection of displays illustrating the most impactful events in the community’s chronicle. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern enumerates the restrictions: nobody could get closer than 5km of the border. Rural residents needed special permission to tend to their crops; the husband or wife could work the combine harvester but under no circumstances the pair, in case they attempted to flee. Military personnel were on duty.

Wider Context

The border between Western Germany and the GDR ran 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to this location in the south. Berlin is commemorated and honored the greatest, but in excess of double the number people (well over 300) died attempting to pass over it in countryside regions than in the big city. Robert Lebegern tells me that 95% of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Village Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who adjusted to dwelling in the ambiguous area between two ideological spheres by staying low-profile and looking after their fields. They did not supported the socialist government nor resisted it, Lebegern explains.

Interest

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a sort of site of interest. Approximately fifteen thousand came to visit each year, viewing tools in hand, to stare – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

25 years after unification, the television series, a broadcast production about a made-up hamlet similar to Mödlareuth, led to new curiosity.

Modern Changes

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, boutique, film screening area and big car park – is likely to