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An brook so low you hardly got your ankles wet split a community for over four decades worth of time. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by coniferous woods, meadows and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to straddle the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a boundary that was established first by a fence and then by a barricade. US troops dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

A few months after their own wall was breached, and before their state had become one in 1990, a collection of villagers began documenting their past. The project is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the demolition of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was formally opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition was not completely prepared. Speaking to the locals who endured the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were bystanders of an cruel split, which tore households asunder and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which pulled relatives into pieces and turned local residents into strangers.”

Historical Origins

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the village cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most famous for bestowing all its male members the name Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the peculiarity never stood in the manner of the residents gathering in the same pub, attending the identical religious building and enrolling their young ones to the same educational institution.

After the War Division

Subsequently occurred the World War II. The moment they came, the Russians erected timber poles by the brook. For a year they occupied the whole village, setting up their control center in a building on the Bavarian side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans urged them to retreat across the creek. For a while, residents could continue to cross over, though as restrictions became stricter they were required to display identification, although all knew who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Increase of Border Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was constructed, with mines, tank traps and watchtowers. The villagers could still observe each other by ascending slopes, but on the east side gesturing and shouting were forbidden. A local woman was placed on a GDR intelligence surveillance list for responding “likewise” to a West German resident who said her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I was told narratives like these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated much of his professional career creating it. Locals were polled early on about how how long a section structure they wished to preserve. They opted for a stretch on the west edge, adjacent to where a villager was able to flee in the dead of night with a scaling tool, after which the frontier was heavily fortified.

Conserved Installations

Two observation towers are preserved in addition to a set of tableaux illustrating the most dramatic moments in the village’s past. As we move, Lebergen lists the regulations: nobody could come within 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers needed particular approval to care for their fields; the partner could operate the combine harvester but never the two, for fear that they tried to make a run for it. Military personnel stood watch.

Larger Background

The boundary between West Germany and the GDR extended 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the northern part to here in the south. Berlin is remembered and documented the most, but over two times more persons (exceeding 300) lost their lives trying to traverse it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. Lebegern informs me that almost all of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Hamlet Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who adjusted to residing in the grey zone between a pair of belief systems by avoiding attention and looking after their fields. They did not endorsed the East German authorities nor resisted it, the director explains.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the village became a kind of pilgrimage. Approximately 15,000 came to visit annually, viewing tools in possession, to stare – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after reunification, Tannbach, a television program about a imaginary community similar to Mödlareuth, led to new interest.

Modern Evolutions

The launch of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, store, movie theater and large parking lot – is expected to