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A brook so narrow you hardly got your feet wet divided a settlement for over four decades worth of time. By an accident of landscape, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, pastures and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to span the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a barricade. US troops dubbed it Small Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

A few months after their own division was breached, and even before their state had reunified in 1990, a assembly of local people set about commemorating their heritage. The work is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the fall of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition was not completely prepared. Addressing the locals who experienced the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an cruel separation, which pulled relatives asunder and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal split, which pulled families into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Past Context

Starting at its creation in 1810, the village spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most famous for giving all its men the title Heinrich and counting them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the peculiarity never stood in the path of the residents drinking in the identical tavern, attending the same place of worship and sending their young ones to the very same learning center.

Following WWII Division

Next arrived the second world war. As soon as they appeared, the Soviet forces installed timber poles by the brook. For a annual period they took over the entire community, setting up their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers convinced them to pull back to the other side of the brook. For a period, villagers could still jump across, though as limitations became stricter they were required to show identification, despite the fact that everyone understood who they were, and to come back at night.

Increase of Boundary Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came barbed wire and the legal closing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was built, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The villagers could still view each other by climbing hills, but on the eastern side signaling and yelling were prohibited. A female resident was added to a East German secret police surveillance list for replying “same to you” to a West German resident who said her “happy new year”.

Exhibition Center Establishment

It was related to me narratives including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated much of his occupational time developing it. Villagers were polled early on about how what length of structure they desired to maintain. They opted for a stretch on the west perimeter, near where a villager managed to get away in the dead of night with a climbing device, after which the border was significantly reinforced.

Conserved Buildings

A pair of watchtowers are maintained together with a collection of tableaux showing the most significant events in the hamlet’s past. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern lists the regulations: nobody could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Farmers required specific authorization to care for their produce; the spouse could work the combine harvester but never both, in case they attempted to make a run for it. Soldiers were on duty.

Larger Perspective

The frontier between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic ran 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the north to this location in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most, but in excess of twice as many people (well over 300) lost their lives attempting to traverse it in rural areas than in the big city. the director reminds me that almost all of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Hamlet Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who adapted to dwelling in the uncertain territory between two political systems by avoiding attention and tending to their fields. They neither backed the communist regime nor fought it, the director states.

Interest

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a type of site of interest. Approximately 15,000 came to visit every year, binoculars in hand, to stare – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

25 years after reunification, the television series, a TV series about a imaginary hamlet similar to Mödlareuth, caused fresh curiosity.

Current Developments

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, store, cinema room and big parking lot – is probable to