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A stream so low you hardly got your ankles wet divided a settlement for over four decades worth of time. By an accident of geography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by evergreen groves, pastures and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to straddle Bavaria, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a wall. American soldiers called it Small Berlin.

Preserving the Past

A few months after their own division was torn down, and prior to their country had unified again in 1990, a group of villagers set about memorialising their history. The work is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not entirely ready. Addressing the residents who experienced the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which tore households into pieces and turned neighbors into aliens.”

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

Historical Background

Starting at its founding in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family most famous for giving all its male members the name Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the path of the locals drinking in the very same tavern, visiting the same religious building and sending their young ones to the same educational institution.

Post-War Split

Then came the second world war. Immediately after they came, the Soviet forces put up wood stakes by the brook. For a twelve months they took over the complete community, establishing their command in a house on the Bavarian side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The Americans convinced them to retreat to the other side of the stream. For a time, locals could still cross over, though as controls increased they were obliged to display identity papers, although everyone was aware who they were, and to return at night.

Escalation of Border Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was constructed, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The residents could continue to view each other by climbing slopes, but on the Soviet side gesturing and shouting were prohibited. A local woman was placed on a Stasi watch list for answering “likewise” to a West German local who greeted her “happy new year”.

Museum Establishment

It was related to me accounts including these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent much of his occupational time developing it. Locals were asked early on about how how long a section structure they desired to preserve. They opted for a stretch on the western edge, near where a local resident succeeded to flee in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, following which the frontier was substantially strengthened.

Conserved Installations

2 watchtowers are preserved together with a series of exhibits illustrating the most significant events in the community’s chronicle. As we stroll, the director details the restrictions: nobody could approach 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers had to obtain particular approval to tend to their produce; the partner could use the combine harvester but under no circumstances the pair, for fear that they attempted to make a run for it. Military personnel stood watch.

Wider Perspective

The boundary between Western Germany and the GDR ran nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the greatest, but in excess of double the number individuals (well over 300) lost their lives attempting to traverse it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern informs me that almost all of escape attempts did not succeed.

Community Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or craftsmen, who accommodated to living in the uncertain territory between a pair of ideological spheres by staying low-profile and looking after their land. They did not endorsed the communist regime nor resisted it, the director clarifies.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the village became a kind of destination. Roughly fifteen thousand visited every year, binoculars in their hands, to look – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty five years after unification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a made-up community similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed attention.

Present-Day Developments

The launch of the recently established museum – with a cafe, store, movie theater and big parking lot – is expected to