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A stream so narrow you hardly got your ankles wet split a settlement for in excess of four decades of time. Due to a quirk of topography, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by evergreen groves, meadows and stunning views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was established first by a barrier and then by a barricade. US troops called it Little Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Several months after their own wall was opened, and prior to their state had become one in 1990, a collection of local people started documenting their history. The project is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration 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 ready. Telling the residents who endured the former times, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an brutal split, which ripped relatives apart and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman separation, which tore families apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Historical Context

Right from its establishment in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for bestowing all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the way of the locals socializing in the identical pub, going to the very same religious building and sending their children to the same educational institution.

After the War Division

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. The moment they appeared, the Russians put up wood stakes by the brook. For a annual period they occupied the whole hamlet, establishing their command in a building on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers convinced them to withdraw across the stream. For a time, villagers could still hop over, though as limitations tightened they were forced to present identity papers, even though everyone knew who they were, and to return at after dark.

Increase of Boundary Measures

After that, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was constructed, with explosives, tank traps and watchtowers. The villagers could still observe each other by scaling hills, but on the eastern side gesturing and shouting were prohibited. A female resident was added to a East German secret police watch list for replying “back at you” to a western resident who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

I was told stories such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent much of his professional career creating it. Residents were asked in the initial phases about how what length of barrier they wished to keep. They chose a section on the western edge, close to where a local resident was able to escape in the dead of night with a scaling tool, subsequently the border was significantly strengthened.

Maintained Installations

A pair of guard towers are conserved together with a series of exhibits depicting the most significant moments in the hamlet’s past. As we walk, Lebergen enumerates the restrictions: not a single person could come within 5km of the boundary. Rural residents had to obtain special permission to look after their fields; the partner could use the harvesting machine but not the two, lest they sought to flee. Soldiers stood watch.

Broader Background

The boundary between Western Germany and the GDR extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and honored the most, but more than double the number individuals (exceeding 300) lost their lives attempting to cross it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95% of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Village Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or craftsmen, who adapted to living in the ambiguous area between 2 political systems by keeping their heads down and caring for their fields. They nor did they endorsed the socialist government nor resisted it, Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a type of site of interest. Approximately 15,000 visited annually, viewing tools in their hands, to look – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the TV show, a TV series about a fictional village like Mödlareuth, caused renewed interest.

Present-Day Developments

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, shop, movie theater and sizable parking lot – is expected to