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An creek so low you barely got your ankles wet divided a village for more than four decades. Because of a chance of landscape, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by coniferous woods, pastures and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to straddle the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was marked first by a barrier and then by a wall. US troops dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

Several months after their own barrier was breached, and before their state had reunified in 1990, a collection of residents began documenting their history. The effort is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth remembrance of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show wasn’t quite prepared. Speaking to the locals who experienced the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an inhuman separation, which pulled families into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an brutal split, which ripped relatives into pieces and turned local residents into strangers.”

Historical Origins

Right from its creation in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a princely house best known for giving all its male members the title Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the quirk did not stand in the path of the locals drinking in the identical pub, going to the same religious building and enrolling their young ones to the very same school.

Following WWII Separation

Subsequently occurred the second world war. As soon as they came, the Soviet forces put up wooden posts by the creek. For a year they occupied the entire village, setting up their headquarters in a house on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to withdraw back over the creek. For a time, villagers could continue to jump across, though as controls became stricter they were forced to present ID, despite the fact that each person understood who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Escalation of Frontier Controls

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the legal sealing 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 view each other by ascending elevations, but on the east side gesturing and shouting were banned. A local woman was added to a GDR intelligence watch list for answering “likewise” to a western resident who greeted her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I heard stories including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a large part of his working life developing it. Villagers were polled at an early stage about how how long a section structure they wished to keep. They opted for a section on the Bavarian edge, near where a local resident managed to escape in the dead of night with a ladder, after which the border was heavily strengthened.

Preserved Buildings

Two observation towers are maintained together with a series of tableaux showing the most significant dates in the community’s past. As we stroll, Lebergen details the restrictions: not a single person could come within 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers required special permission to tend to their crops; the partner could operate the agricultural equipment but not both, in case they attempted to make a run for it. Armed guards stood watch.

Broader Background

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the GDR stretched 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the north to this location in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and documented the greatest, but more than two times more individuals (well over 300) died trying to cross it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern tells me that almost all of efforts to cross failed.

Community Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or artisans, who adapted to living in the uncertain territory between 2 belief systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their farms. They neither supported the communist regime nor opposed it, Lebegern clarifies.

Interest

For visitors, however, the settlement became a type of destination. Approximately 15k came to visit each year, viewing tools in hand, to look – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the TV show, a television program about a imaginary hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed curiosity.

Modern Evolutions

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, store, film screening area and big vehicle area – is likely to