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An stream so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet split a village for more than four decades of time. By an accident of landscape, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by coniferous woods, meadows and stunning views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to cross Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a border that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a partition. American soldiers dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

A few months after their own barrier was breached, and prior to their nation had unified again in 1990, a assembly of local people began documenting their history. The work is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the fall of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not entirely prepared. Speaking to the villagers who lived through the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an brutal division, which tore households asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal division, which tore relatives asunder and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Historical Background

Right from its establishment in 1810, the village cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for bestowing all its men the designation Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the peculiarity did not stand in the path of the residents gathering in the same pub, visiting the same religious building and enrolling their children to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Division

Next arrived the World War II. As soon as they came, the Soviet forces erected wooden posts by the stream. For a year they occupied the entire village, setting up their command in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces convinced them to retreat to the other side of the brook. For a while, villagers could continue to jump across, though as controls tightened they were required to present ID, although all understood who they were, and to go back at night.

Intensification of Frontier Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was constructed, with landmines, tank traps and watchtowers. The villagers could still see each other by ascending hills, but on the east side gesturing and shouting were banned. A female resident was put on a Stasi monitoring list for replying “same to you” to a Bavarian villager who said her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Establishment

I heard narratives including these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a significant portion of his occupational time developing it. Residents were polled in the initial phases about how much structure they wanted to keep. They opted for a stretch on the Bavarian perimeter, adjacent to where one of their own succeeded to get away in the darkest hours with a ladder, after which the border was heavily reinforced.

Preserved Buildings

2 guard towers are maintained together with a set of displays depicting the most dramatic dates in the hamlet’s history. As we walk, Lebergen enumerates the regulations: not a single person could approach 5km of the border. Rural residents required special permission to care for their fields; the partner could work the agricultural equipment but not the two, lest they attempted to escape. Soldiers kept guard.

Broader Context

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the East Germany ran 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic Sea in the north to this location in the south. Berlin is remembered and documented the most frequently, but more than two times more persons (well over 300) lost their lives seeking to pass over it in provincial zones than in the urban center. the director reminds me that 95% of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Village Existence

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or artisans, who adjusted to living in the uncertain territory between a pair of political systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their land. They did not backed the East German authorities nor fought it, Lebegern clarifies.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the hamlet became a sort of site of interest. Approximately 15k came to see every year, optical devices in possession, to gawp – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

25 years after merger, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a imaginary community similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed interest.

Current Changes

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, boutique, cinema room and sizable parking lot – is expected to