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An stream so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet separated a settlement for over four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by pine forests, meadows and breathtaking views, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the bad luck to cross Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was established first by a enclosure and then by a wall. United States military personnel called it Small Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

A few months after their own barrier was opened, and prior to their nation had become one in 1990, a assembly of local people set about memorialising their past. The effort is about to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the fall of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was publicly opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not completely finished. Speaking to the locals who endured the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an brutal split, which ripped families asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal division, which pulled families asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Historical Background

Even at its creation in 1810, the community straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for assigning all its men the title Heinrich and counting them in order by birth. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the inhabitants drinking in the identical tavern, visiting the same religious building and enrolling their young ones to the same educational institution.

Post-War Division

Subsequently occurred the second world war. As soon as they appeared, the Russian troops installed wood stakes by the creek. For a annual period they seized the whole village, creating their control center in a house on the western side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers urged them to retreat back over the brook. For a time, villagers could still jump across, though as restrictions became stricter they were required to display identity papers, even though each person knew who they were, and to return at after dark.

Increase of Boundary Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was erected, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The locals could continue to see each other by climbing slopes, but on the east side waving and yelling were banned. A female resident was placed on a GDR intelligence watch list for responding “likewise” to a Bavarian villager who said her “happy new year”.

Exhibition Center Establishment

I was told stories such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a large part of his working life building it. Residents were consulted early on about how how long a section structure they desired to keep. They selected a portion on the Bavarian fringe, near where one of their own was able to get away in the darkest hours with a ladder, following which the border was significantly reinforced.

Maintained Buildings

Two guard towers are maintained in addition to a set of exhibits showing the most significant events in the community’s chronicle. As we walk, the director enumerates the regulations: nobody could come within 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain special permission to care for their crops; the partner could operate the agricultural equipment but never the pair, in case they sought to escape. Soldiers were on duty.

Larger Perspective

The border between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic ran nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to this location in the south. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the most, but in excess of double the number persons (exceeding 300) were killed attempting to cross it in provincial zones than in the big city. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95% of escape attempts did not succeed.

Community Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or skilled workers, who adapted to living in the ambiguous area between a pair of belief systems by avoiding attention and looking after their land. They nor did they backed the East German authorities nor resisted it, the director states.

Interest

For visitors, however, the settlement became a kind of destination. Roughly 15,000 visited each year, viewing tools in their hands, to look – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after reunification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a fictional village like Mödlareuth, caused renewed attention.

Present-Day Developments

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, boutique, movie theater and sizable vehicle area – is likely to