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An stream so low you barely got your ankles wet split a community for in excess of four decades. By an accident of landscape, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement encircled by coniferous woods, fields and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a boundary that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a barricade. American soldiers nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Memorialising the Past

Months after their own wall was opened, and prior to their country had become one in 1990, a group of local people set about commemorating their past. The work is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display wasn’t quite prepared. Speaking to the residents who lived through the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an inhuman separation, which tore relatives apart and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal split, which tore households into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Historical Context

Even at its creation in 1810, the community straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most famous for assigning all its men the designation Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the inhabitants socializing in the very same pub, going to the identical religious building and placing their children to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Split

Subsequently occurred the second world war. As soon as they arrived, the Soviet forces put up wood stakes by the creek. For a annual period they took over the entire hamlet, setting up their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to retreat across the creek. For a time, locals could still cross over, though as controls increased they were obliged to display identification, although everyone knew who they were, and to go back at evening.

Intensification of Frontier Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the legal closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was constructed, with mines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The villagers could continue to view each other by ascending slopes, but on the eastern side signaling and yelling were prohibited. A female resident was placed on a East German secret police monitoring list for replying “likewise” to a western local who greeted her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I was told stories including these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated a significant portion of his occupational time developing it. Villagers were asked in the initial phases about how what length of barrier they wanted to preserve. They opted for a stretch on the west perimeter, near where a villager was able to flee in the dead of night with a scaling tool, after which the boundary was heavily reinforced.

Conserved Structures

2 guard towers are maintained alongside a series of exhibits showing the most significant events in the community’s past. As we stroll, Lebergen enumerates the regulations: no one could approach 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers had to obtain particular approval to look after their crops; the spouse could use the agricultural equipment but never both, for fear that they sought to escape. Soldiers kept guard.

Broader Context

The frontier between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic extended 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and honored the most, but over twice as many individuals (well over 300) lost their lives attempting to pass over it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern reminds me that almost all of efforts to cross failed.

Village Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or skilled workers, who accommodated to residing in the uncertain territory between 2 political systems by staying low-profile and looking after their fields. They nor did they endorsed the East German authorities nor opposed it, Lebegern states.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the village became a type of pilgrimage. Roughly fifteen thousand came to see annually, viewing tools in their hands, to stare – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty five years after reunification, the television series, a TV series about a imaginary community like Mödlareuth, led to renewed curiosity.

Present-Day Evolutions

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, store, film screening area and large car park – is probable to