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An creek so shallow you hardly got your ankles wet divided a community for more than four decades of time. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by pine forests, meadows and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to span the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a frontier that was established first by a fence and then by a wall. US troops nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

A few months after their own division was torn down, and even before their state had reunified in 1990, a group of residents began commemorating their heritage. The work is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display was not completely ready. Speaking to the villagers who lived through the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an cruel separation, which tore households apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman separation, which ripped relatives into pieces and turned local residents into aliens.”

Historical Origins

Starting at its creation in 1810, the village cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family most famous for giving all its men the title Heinrich and counting them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the quirk never stood in the manner of the residents socializing in the identical inn, visiting the same church and enrolling their young ones to the very same educational institution.

Post-War Separation

Then came the World War II. Immediately after they appeared, the Russian troops put up wooden posts by the stream. For a annual period they took over the entire hamlet, establishing their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers persuaded them to pull back back over the creek. For a period, villagers could continue to jump across, though as limitations tightened they were obliged to present ID, despite the fact that everyone knew who they were, and to go back at night.

Escalation of Frontier Measures

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was erected, with explosives, vehicle barriers and observation points. The locals could continue to view each other by ascending elevations, but on the eastern side gesturing and shouting were banned. A female resident was added to a GDR intelligence monitoring list for answering “back at you” to a western local who said her “good new year”.

Museum Establishment

It was related to me accounts like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a large part of his working life creating it. Residents were consulted in the initial phases about how much structure they wanted to maintain. They chose a portion on the Bavarian fringe, adjacent to where a local resident succeeded to escape in the dead of night with a ladder, after which the border was substantially reinforced.

Conserved Buildings

A pair of guard towers are preserved together with a collection of displays showing the most significant dates in the hamlet’s past. As we move, Lebergen details the regulations: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Farmers had to obtain particular approval to tend to their crops; the partner could operate the combine harvester but not the pair, lest they tried to flee. Military personnel kept guard.

Broader Perspective

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the East Germany extended 1,400km, from the northern sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is commemorated and documented the greatest, but over two times more individuals (well over 300) were killed trying to pass over it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95% of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Hamlet Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who accommodated to residing in the grey zone between two political systems by keeping their heads down and tending to their farms. They nor did they supported the communist regime nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the hamlet became a sort of site of interest. About 15k came to see every year, optical devices in their hands, to gawp – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after reunification, the television series, a television program about a imaginary community similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed attention.

Present-Day Developments

The launch of the new museum – with a cafe, store, movie theater and big vehicle area – is probable to