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A stream so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet divided a village for more than four decades. Due to a quirk of topography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by evergreen groves, pastures and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to cross the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a frontier that was established first by a barrier and then by a barricade. United States military personnel nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Memorialising History

A few months after their own division was opened, and prior to their country had unified again in 1990, a group of residents started memorialising their heritage. The effort is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the collapse of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was officially opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not completely finished. Addressing the villagers who lived through the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an cruel split, which pulled families asunder and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were observers of an cruel division, which ripped families asunder and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Historical Origins

Starting at its founding in 1810, the village straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family best known for giving all its male members the title Heinrich and labeling them in order by birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the manner of the inhabitants socializing in the identical inn, visiting the same place of worship and placing their children to the same school.

Following WWII Split

Next arrived the World War II. Immediately after they arrived, the Soviet forces erected wood stakes by the creek. For a annual period they occupied the whole community, setting up their command in a house on the western side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The US forces persuaded them to withdraw across the stream. For a while, residents could continue to jump across, though as controls increased they were obliged to show identification, although all knew who they were, and to return at night.

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 wall was erected, with mines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The villagers could continue to observe each other by scaling elevations, but on the eastern side gesturing and yelling were prohibited. One woman was added to a Stasi surveillance list for responding “same to you” to a western villager who said her “happy new year”.

Museum Creation

I heard narratives including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated much of his occupational time developing it. Villagers were polled early on about how much structure they desired to maintain. They selected a portion on the western edge, close to where one of their own was able to get away in the middle of the night with a ladder, after which the frontier was significantly reinforced.

Maintained Structures

A pair of watchtowers are preserved alongside a series of tableaux depicting the most impactful moments in the village’s chronicle. As we stroll, the director enumerates the regulations: no one could approach 5km of the frontier. Rural residents needed specific authorization to tend to their produce; the partner could work the harvesting machine but not the pair, for fear that they attempted to escape. Military personnel were on duty.

Wider Perspective

The frontier between Western Germany and the East Germany extended 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most frequently, but in excess of double the number persons (exceeding 300) died attempting to traverse it in rural areas than in the urban center. Lebegern informs me that 95 percent of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Hamlet Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who accommodated to living in the uncertain territory between 2 political systems by avoiding attention and tending to their fields. They neither backed the East German authorities nor resisted it, Lebegern clarifies.

Interest

For tourists, however, the settlement became a sort of destination. About 15,000 visited each year, binoculars in possession, to look – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

25 years after unification, Tannbach, a TV series about a made-up community similar to Mödlareuth, caused renewed interest.

Present-Day Changes

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, shop, movie theater and sizable vehicle area – is probable to