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A stream so shallow you scarcely got your ankles wet split a village for in excess of four decades. By an accident of geography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by pine forests, pastures and stunning views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to straddle the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a border that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a barricade. US troops dubbed it Small Berlin.

Memorialising History

Months after their own division was breached, and prior to their country had unified again in 1990, a assembly of residents started memorialising their heritage. The effort is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the fall of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was publicly launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display wasn’t quite prepared. Addressing the residents who endured the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an cruel division, which ripped households asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were observers of an brutal division, which tore households into pieces and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Past Origins

Starting at its creation in 1810, the village straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house best known for assigning all its male members the name Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the quirk never stood in the manner of the inhabitants gathering in the identical inn, going to the same religious building and sending their young ones to the same school.

Following WWII Split

Subsequently occurred the second world war. Immediately after they appeared, the Russians put up timber poles by the stream. For a annual period they seized the complete village, setting up their command in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans convinced them to withdraw to the other side of the brook. For a time, residents could still hop over, though as restrictions became stricter they were obliged to display ID, despite the fact that all understood who they were, and to go back at evening.

Increase of Boundary Controls

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the legal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was constructed, with landmines, tank traps and observation points. The locals could still observe each other by ascending slopes, but on the east side waving and shouting were prohibited. A female resident was put on a East German secret police surveillance list for answering “back at you” to a western villager who wished her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

I heard narratives like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a significant portion of his professional career creating it. Villagers were consulted early on about how what length of barrier they desired to keep. They chose a stretch on the Bavarian perimeter, adjacent to where a local resident succeeded to flee in the middle of the night with a climbing device, subsequently the border was substantially reinforced.

Maintained Structures

Two watchtowers are maintained in addition to a collection of displays showing the most impactful dates in the village’s history. As we walk, Robert Lebegern lists the regulations: no one could approach 5km of the border. Farmers had to obtain particular approval to tend to their fields; the partner could use the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the pair, in case they attempted to make a run for it. Military personnel stood watch.

Wider Perspective

The frontier between West Germany and the GDR extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and honored the most, but in excess of two times more people (well over 300) lost their lives seeking to cross it in countryside regions than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern informs me that almost all of efforts to cross failed.

Community Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or artisans, who adjusted to residing in the ambiguous area between 2 ideological spheres by avoiding attention and tending to their farms. They did not backed the socialist government nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a type of pilgrimage. About 15,000 visited each year, binoculars in hand, to look – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the television series, a broadcast production about a fictional community resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in new curiosity.

Current Changes

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, boutique, cinema room and sizable vehicle area – is likely to