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A creek so low you barely got your ankles wet split a village for more than four decades of time. By an accident of topography, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by evergreen groves, pastures and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the bad luck to straddle the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was established first by a barrier and then by a barricade. United States military personnel nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Memorialising History

Several months after their own barrier was opened, and before their nation had become one in 1990, a assembly of residents began documenting their history. The work is about to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show was not completely ready. Addressing the villagers who lived through the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an brutal split, which ripped families apart and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an cruel division, which tore households apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Historical Context

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the community cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for bestowing all its male members the name Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the way of the locals socializing in the very same pub, going to the same church and enrolling their young ones to the identical learning center.

After the War Division

Then came the World War II. Immediately after they came, the Russian troops erected wooden posts by the creek. For a annual period they seized the whole village, establishing their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans convinced them to retreat back over the creek. For a period, locals could still jump across, though as restrictions tightened they were obliged to display identification, even though everyone was aware who they were, and to return at night.

Increase of Border Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was built, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The villagers could still see each other by ascending hills, but on the east side signaling and shouting were banned. One woman was put on a GDR intelligence watch list for replying “back at you” to a Bavarian resident who said her “happy new year”.

Museum Creation

I heard stories including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent much of his working life developing it. Villagers were polled in the initial phases about how how long a section wall they desired to maintain. They selected a section on the Bavarian edge, adjacent to where one of their own was able to get away in the dead of night with a scaling tool, subsequently the frontier was substantially fortified.

Preserved Installations

Two observation towers are maintained in addition to a set of displays showing the most dramatic dates in the village’s past. As we walk, the director lists the restrictions: not a single person could approach 5km of the boundary. Rural residents needed particular approval to look after their crops; the husband or wife could use the agricultural equipment but not both, lest they sought to flee. Military personnel stood watch.

Larger Context

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the East Germany extended 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to this location in the south. Berlin is commemorated and honored the most, but in excess of twice as many individuals (more than 300) died seeking to traverse it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. the director tells me that 95% of escape attempts failed.

Village Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or artisans, who adjusted to residing in the uncertain territory between two ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and looking after their land. They did not backed the East German authorities nor resisted it, Lebegern states.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the village became a kind of destination. Approximately fifteen thousand came to visit annually, viewing tools in their hands, to look – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

25 years after unification, the television series, a television program about a fictional community resembling Mödlareuth, led to new interest.

Modern Developments

The inauguration of the new museum – with a coffee shop, boutique, cinema room and big parking lot – is expected to