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An creek so shallow you barely got your feet wet separated a village for in excess of four decades worth of time. By an accident of topography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by evergreen groves, pastures and stunning views, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the misfortune to cross Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a boundary that was marked first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. American soldiers nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

Several months after their own wall was breached, and before their state had reunified in 1990, a group of villagers started documenting their past. The work is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not completely ready. Speaking to the villagers who experienced the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an cruel split, which ripped households asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were observers of an brutal separation, which ripped families apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Historical Background

Right from its founding in 1810, the community straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a princely house best known for assigning all its male members the title Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by birth. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the peculiarity never stood in the way of the residents drinking in the identical inn, visiting the very same church and enrolling their children to the very same school.

Following WWII Separation

Then came the World War II. Immediately after they came, the Russian troops erected wooden posts by the stream. For a annual period they took over the complete village, establishing their control center in a house on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans persuaded them to pull back across the brook. For a while, locals could still jump across, though as restrictions became stricter they were required to display identification, despite the fact that each person was aware who they were, and to return at after dark.

Escalation of Boundary Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was constructed, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and guard posts. The locals could continue to see each other by ascending elevations, but on the Soviet side waving and shouting were forbidden. A female resident was put on a GDR intelligence monitoring list for answering “likewise” to a western local who said her “good new year”.

Exhibition Center Establishment

I was told accounts such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a large part of his working life developing it. Residents were asked at an early stage about how much structure they desired to preserve. They chose a stretch on the Bavarian perimeter, adjacent to where one of their own succeeded to get away in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, after which the frontier was heavily fortified.

Preserved Structures

2 watchtowers are conserved in addition to a series of exhibits depicting the most significant events in the village’s history. As we walk, Lebergen lists the regulations: nobody could come within 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers required specific authorization to care for their fields; the partner could operate the combine harvester but never the pair, lest they tried to escape. Military personnel were on duty.

Larger Background

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the GDR extended 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the north to here in the south. Berlin is recalled and documented the most frequently, but more than twice as many people (more than 300) lost their lives seeking to traverse it in provincial zones than in the urban center. the director reminds me that 95% of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Village Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or craftsmen, who adjusted to living in the grey zone between a pair of political systems by avoiding attention and looking after their fields. They neither endorsed the East German authorities nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern states.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a sort of destination. About 15k came to see every year, viewing tools in their hands, to gawp – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after merger, the TV show, a television program about a made-up hamlet similar to Mödlareuth, caused fresh attention.

Present-Day Evolutions

The inauguration of the new museum – with a cafe, store, movie theater and sizable vehicle area – is likely to