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An creek so shallow you hardly got your feet wet split a settlement for more than four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of landscape, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, meadows and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the bad luck to straddle the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a border that was established first by a fence and then by a barricade. American soldiers dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Memorialising the Past

A few months after their own division was opened, and before their nation had become one in 1990, a group of villagers began memorialising their history. The project is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the demolition of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not completely ready. Telling the locals who lived through the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an cruel division, which pulled households apart and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which ripped households apart and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

Past Origins

Even at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most famous for bestowing all its men the name Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the quirk never stood in the manner of the inhabitants socializing in the very same pub, going to the identical church and enrolling their kids to the very same educational institution.

Post-War Separation

Subsequently occurred the second world war. The moment they came, the Soviet forces installed wood stakes by the creek. For a year they seized the whole village, establishing their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans persuaded them to pull back across the stream. For a period, residents could still cross over, though as restrictions tightened they were obliged to show ID, despite the fact that everyone was aware who they were, and to go back at evening.

Increase of Border Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was built, with landmines, tank traps and watchtowers. The residents could still see each other by scaling slopes, but on the east side signaling and yelling were prohibited. One woman was placed on a Stasi monitoring list for answering “same to you” to a West German resident who wished her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I heard narratives including these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent a large part of his occupational time creating it. Locals were consulted early on about how much wall they wished to preserve. They opted for a portion on the Bavarian edge, near where a villager was able to get away in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, subsequently the border was significantly reinforced.

Conserved Installations

2 guard towers are conserved alongside a series of displays depicting the most significant events in the community’s chronicle. As we walk, Lebergen lists the restrictions: no one could approach 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers required specific authorization to look after their crops; the spouse could operate the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances the pair, in case they sought to escape. Soldiers were on duty.

Larger Perspective

The border between the Federal Republic and the GDR extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the greatest, but in excess of two times more people (more than 300) lost their lives trying to cross it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. the director reminds me that almost all of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Community Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or skilled workers, who adjusted to residing in the grey zone between 2 ideological spheres by avoiding attention and caring for their farms. They nor did they supported the East German authorities nor opposed it, the director states.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the village became a kind of destination. About fifteen thousand came to visit every year, viewing tools in possession, to look – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

25 years after reunification, the TV show, a broadcast production about a made-up hamlet similar to Mödlareuth, led to new curiosity.

Present-Day Changes

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, shop, film screening area and large vehicle area – is probable to