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An creek so low you hardly got your ankles wet separated a village for more than four decades of time. Because of a chance of landscape, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by evergreen groves, pastures and breathtaking views, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the bad luck to cross the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a boundary that was established first by a fence and then by a wall. United States military personnel called it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Several months after their own division was breached, and before their nation had reunified in 1990, a group of residents set about commemorating their past. The work is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth remembrance of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not entirely ready. Addressing the locals who experienced the past era, Steinmeier remarked: “You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which ripped households apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel split, which tore families asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Historical Background

Even at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for assigning all its male members the name Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier told the audience, the peculiarity did not stand in the path of the inhabitants drinking in the very same tavern, going to the same place of worship and sending their kids to the very same school.

Following WWII Split

Then came the World War II. Immediately after they came, the Soviet forces installed timber poles by the creek. For a annual period they took over the whole hamlet, establishing their command in a house on the Bavarian side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to retreat back over the stream. For a time, locals could still cross over, though as controls increased they were forced to display ID, despite the fact that each person understood who they were, and to return at after dark.

Increase of Frontier Controls

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was constructed, with mines, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The villagers could still observe each other by scaling elevations, but on the east side signaling and yelling were prohibited. A local woman was put on a East German secret police monitoring list for replying “back at you” to a western local who greeted her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

I heard stories such as these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a significant portion of his professional career creating it. Residents were consulted in the initial phases about how how long a section barrier they desired to keep. They opted for a stretch on the western edge, near where one of their own succeeded to escape in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, following which the border was significantly reinforced.

Maintained Buildings

2 observation towers are conserved in addition to a series of tableaux illustrating the most significant dates in the community’s past. As we walk, Lebergen details the regulations: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Farmers needed particular approval to tend to their crops; the partner could work the agricultural equipment but not the pair, for fear that they attempted to escape. Soldiers kept guard.

Broader Perspective

The border between Western Germany and the GDR ran nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the greatest, but in excess of two times more persons (exceeding 300) were killed seeking to pass over it in rural areas than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern reminds me that almost all of efforts to cross failed.

Village Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or craftsmen, who adapted to residing in the ambiguous area between 2 ideological spheres by staying low-profile and looking after their farms. They did not endorsed the communist regime nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern states.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a type of site of interest. About fifteen thousand came to see every year, binoculars in possession, to look – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after unification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a imaginary community similar to Mödlareuth, led to new curiosity.

Present-Day Evolutions

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, store, movie theater and sizable car park – is likely to