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An creek so narrow you hardly got your ankles wet separated a settlement for more than four decades worth of time. By an accident of geography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by coniferous woods, fields and stunning scenery, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a border that was marked first by a barrier and then by a partition. United States military personnel called it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating History

Several months after their own wall was opened, and even before their country had unified again in 1990, a group of residents set about documenting their past. The work is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the fall of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show wasn’t quite prepared. Speaking to the locals who endured the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which ripped relatives into pieces and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were observers of an cruel split, which pulled relatives into pieces and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Past Context

Right from its creation in 1810, the community straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for assigning all its men the title Heinrich and counting them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the quirk did not stand in the path of the inhabitants gathering in the same inn, visiting the very same church and sending their kids to the very same educational institution.

Post-War Division

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. As soon as they arrived, the Russian troops installed wooden posts by the stream. For a annual period they seized the complete community, setting up their control center in a house on the western side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The US forces persuaded them to pull back across the brook. For a time, residents could continue to cross over, though as restrictions increased they were obliged to display identification, even though each person knew who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Increase of Frontier Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was erected, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The residents could still see each other by climbing hills, but on the east side gesturing and calling out were banned. A local woman was added to a GDR intelligence surveillance list for answering “likewise” to a Bavarian resident who greeted her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

I was told narratives such as these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent much of his professional career creating it. Villagers were polled in the initial phases about how much structure they wished to preserve. They chose a portion on the Bavarian perimeter, near where a local resident was able to escape in the dead of night with a ladder, subsequently the boundary was significantly strengthened.

Maintained Buildings

2 observation towers are maintained in addition to a series of displays illustrating the most dramatic events in the hamlet’s history. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern enumerates the restrictions: not a single person could approach 5km of the boundary. Rural residents needed specific authorization to care for their produce; the spouse could use the harvesting machine but under no circumstances both, for fear that they sought to escape. Military personnel kept guard.

Broader Background

The frontier between West Germany and the GDR stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to here in the south. Berlin is remembered and honored the most frequently, but more than two times more individuals (well over 300) died attempting to cross it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. Lebegern tells me that 95 percent of efforts to cross did not succeed.

Hamlet Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or craftsmen, who adjusted to residing in the uncertain territory between two ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and looking after their fields. They did not supported the communist regime nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the village became a sort of destination. Roughly 15,000 visited each year, viewing tools in hand, to stare – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after reunification, Tannbach, a TV series about a made-up community like Mödlareuth, led to renewed curiosity.

Present-Day Changes

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a cafe, store, cinema room and large parking lot – is expected to