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A brook so low you hardly got your feet wet split a village for more than four decades. Because of a chance of geography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by coniferous woods, pastures and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a boundary that was established first by a fence and then by a barricade. American soldiers called it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating History

Months after their own wall was breached, and prior to their state had unified again in 1990, a assembly of local people set about documenting their past. The work is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the fall of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not completely ready. Addressing the residents who experienced the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an brutal split, which tore relatives asunder and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal split, which ripped families asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Historical Context

Starting at its founding in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for assigning all its men the name Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier told the crowd, the peculiarity did not stand in the manner of the inhabitants drinking in the very same pub, going to the very same church and placing their young ones to the very same educational institution.

Post-War Separation

Subsequently occurred the second world war. The moment they arrived, the Russian troops erected wood stakes by the creek. For a annual period they occupied the entire village, setting up their command in a house on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans urged them to pull back to the other side of the brook. For a period, locals could continue to hop over, though as controls became stricter they were required to show identity papers, despite the fact that all was aware who they were, and to return at evening.

Intensification of Frontier Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was erected, with landmines, tank traps and watchtowers. The villagers could continue to observe each other by scaling slopes, but on the east side waving and yelling were prohibited. A female resident was added to a GDR intelligence surveillance list for responding “same to you” to a western villager who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Development

I heard accounts like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated much of his professional career developing it. Locals were asked early on about how how long a section barrier they wished to preserve. They selected a stretch on the Bavarian fringe, close to where a villager managed to flee in the dead of night with a climbing device, subsequently the frontier was heavily fortified.

Conserved Buildings

2 watchtowers are conserved alongside a collection of displays depicting the most dramatic events in the hamlet’s history. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern lists the restrictions: not a single person could approach 5km of the boundary. Farmers had to obtain particular approval to look after their fields; the partner could use the agricultural equipment but never the two, in case they attempted to make a run for it. Military personnel were on duty.

Larger Background

The boundary between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic ran nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the north to this location in the south. Berlin is recalled and honored the greatest, but more than twice as many people (more than 300) died trying to traverse it in countryside regions than in the urban center. the director informs me that almost all of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Community Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or skilled workers, who adapted to residing in the ambiguous area between two political systems by staying low-profile and caring for their fields. They did not backed the East German authorities nor fought it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the hamlet became a sort of site of interest. Approximately 15k visited every year, binoculars in possession, to stare – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty five years after reunification, the television series, a television program about a imaginary hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, caused renewed interest.

Current Developments

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, boutique, film screening area and sizable parking lot – is probable to