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An stream so shallow you scarcely got your ankles wet divided a settlement for in excess of four decades worth of time. By an accident of geography, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by coniferous woods, meadows and spectacular views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a frontier that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a partition. US troops nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

Months after their own wall was breached, and even before their state had reunified in 1990, a collection of residents started commemorating their heritage. The project is about to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite prepared. Telling the villagers who lived through the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which tore households apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were observers of an cruel separation, which pulled households asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Past Context

Right from its creation in 1810, the village spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most famous for bestowing all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the quirk did not stand in the manner of the inhabitants drinking in the very same pub, visiting the very same religious building and placing their kids to the identical school.

Following WWII Division

Subsequently occurred the World War II. The moment they arrived, the Russians erected wood stakes by the stream. For a twelve months they occupied the complete village, setting up their headquarters in a dwelling on the western side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces persuaded them to retreat across the creek. For a time, locals could still jump across, though as restrictions increased they were required to present ID, even though everyone understood who they were, and to return at night.

Escalation of Border Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was constructed, with explosives, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The residents could continue to observe each other by scaling slopes, but on the eastern side gesturing and shouting were prohibited. A female resident was put on a GDR intelligence monitoring list for responding “back at you” to a western villager who said her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

It was related to me narratives such as these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has devoted a large part of his professional career building it. Locals were asked in the initial phases about how much barrier they wanted to preserve. They opted for a stretch on the west fringe, near where a villager was able to get away in the dead of night with a scaling tool, subsequently the boundary was heavily strengthened.

Maintained Buildings

Two watchtowers are conserved together with a series of tableaux depicting the most significant events in the community’s chronicle. As we move, Robert Lebegern lists the rules: nobody could come within 5km of the frontier. Farmers had to obtain particular approval to care for their crops; the spouse could work the harvesting machine but not the pair, lest they sought to escape. Military personnel kept guard.

Larger Perspective

The boundary between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched 1,400km, from the northern sea in the north to here in the south. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most frequently, but in excess of two times more individuals (well over 300) died trying to pass over it in rural areas than in the metropolis. the director reminds me that almost all of escape attempts failed.

Community Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or skilled workers, who adjusted to living in the uncertain territory between two political systems by avoiding attention and looking after their farms. They neither supported the socialist government nor fought it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Interest

For visitors, however, the village became a sort of pilgrimage. Approximately 15k visited each year, binoculars in their hands, to stare – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

25 years after merger, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a imaginary village like Mödlareuth, caused fresh attention.

Current Evolutions

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, shop, cinema room and sizable car park – is likely to