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A stream so narrow you hardly got your ankles wet separated a village for in excess of four decades worth of time. Because of a chance of topography, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by pine forests, pastures and spectacular views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to straddle the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a border that was established first by a barrier and then by a partition. US troops dubbed it Little Berlin.

Memorialising History

Months after their own division was torn down, and before their state had unified again in 1990, a collection of villagers began documenting their heritage. The project is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not completely ready. Speaking to the locals who lived through the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an cruel split, which tore relatives apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal split, which pulled relatives asunder and turned local residents into strangers.”

Bygone Context

Even at its founding in 1810, the village spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a princely house most renowned for giving all its male members the designation Heinrich and numbering them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the manner of the inhabitants gathering in the identical pub, attending the same religious building and placing their kids to the identical school.

Following WWII Separation

Subsequently occurred the World War II. The moment they appeared, the Russian troops put up wooden posts by the brook. For a annual period they seized the entire hamlet, establishing their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The Americans persuaded them to withdraw across the stream. For a period, locals could continue to hop over, though as limitations tightened they were forced to show identity papers, even though all understood who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Escalation of Border Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was erected, with mines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The villagers could continue to view each other by ascending elevations, but on the eastern side waving and shouting were prohibited. A local woman was added to a GDR intelligence watch list for answering “same to you” to a Bavarian local who said her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Development

I heard stories such as these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has devoted a significant portion of his occupational time building it. Residents were asked early on about how what length of wall they desired to maintain. They opted for a section on the Bavarian fringe, adjacent to where one of their own was able to flee in the middle of the night with a ladder, following which the frontier was substantially reinforced.

Preserved Structures

2 guard towers are preserved together with a collection of tableaux showing the most significant events in the community’s history. As we move, Robert Lebegern details the restrictions: no one could approach 5km of the frontier. Farmers had to obtain special permission to care for their produce; the husband or wife could operate the combine harvester but under no circumstances the pair, for fear that they tried to flee. Military personnel were on duty.

Broader Context

The border between the Federal Republic and the GDR extended 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the north to here in the south. Berlin is commemorated and documented the greatest, but more than double the number people (more than 300) lost their lives trying to traverse it in provincial zones than in the big city. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95% of efforts to cross were unsuccessful.

Community Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were agricultural workers or craftsmen, who accommodated to residing in the uncertain territory between 2 ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and tending to their land. They did not endorsed the communist regime nor opposed it, Lebegern explains.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the hamlet became a kind of destination. Roughly fifteen thousand came to see annually, optical devices in hand, to look – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty five years after unification, Tannbach, a television program about a made-up community resembling Mödlareuth, caused new curiosity.

Present-Day Changes

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, shop, film screening area and large car park – is probable to