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A creek so narrow you scarcely got your feet wet divided a settlement for more than four decades. By an accident of landscape, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by pine forests, pastures and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to span the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was established first by a fence and then by a wall. American soldiers dubbed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

Months after their own barrier was opened, and before their country had unified again in 1990, a group of local people started memorialising their heritage. The project is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the fall of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was formally launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition was not entirely ready. Telling the villagers who endured the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an brutal division, which ripped families asunder and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an cruel split, which tore relatives into pieces and turned local residents into aliens.”

Bygone Origins

Even at its founding in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for assigning all its male descendants the title Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the crowd, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the residents socializing in the same tavern, visiting the very same religious building and placing their kids to the same learning center.

Post-War Separation

Subsequently occurred the second world war. Immediately after they came, the Soviet forces installed timber poles by the creek. For a annual period they took over the complete community, creating their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans urged them to retreat back over the brook. For a while, locals could continue to hop over, though as limitations became stricter they were obliged to display ID, although all understood who they were, and to go back at night.

Increase of Frontier Measures

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was built, with explosives, tank traps and guard posts. The residents could still view each other by scaling hills, but on the Soviet side gesturing and shouting were banned. A local woman was put on a GDR intelligence surveillance list for responding “back at you” to a West German resident who greeted her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Development

It was related to me accounts such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a significant portion of his professional career creating it. Residents were asked in the initial phases about how how long a section structure they wanted to keep. They selected a section on the western perimeter, close to where a local resident was able to escape in the middle of the night with a climbing device, subsequently the frontier was substantially strengthened.

Preserved Buildings

A pair of observation towers are maintained alongside a set of displays depicting the most dramatic events in the village’s chronicle. As we move, Lebergen details the restrictions: no one could come within 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain specific authorization to care for their fields; the husband or wife could work the agricultural equipment but not both, in case they tried to make a run for it. Armed guards kept guard.

Larger Background

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the East Germany ran 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to here in the south. Berlin is commemorated and honored the most, but more than twice as many individuals (well over 300) were killed attempting to traverse it in provincial zones than in the big city. the director reminds me that 95% of attempts to flee failed.

Community Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or artisans, who adapted to dwelling in the uncertain territory between 2 political systems by staying low-profile and caring for their fields. They did not supported the socialist government nor opposed it, Lebegern clarifies.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a type of pilgrimage. Roughly 15,000 came to visit every year, optical devices in possession, to look – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

Twenty five years after merger, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a imaginary community similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in new curiosity.

Current Developments

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, boutique, film screening area and big vehicle area – is expected to