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An stream so shallow you hardly got your ankles wet divided a village for over four decades. Because of a chance of geography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by evergreen groves, fields and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the misfortune to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a boundary that was established first by a enclosure and then by a partition. United States military personnel dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Memorialising History

Months after their own wall was breached, and even before their country had become one in 1990, a assembly of residents began memorialising their history. The project is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was publicly inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display wasn’t quite prepared. Telling the residents who experienced the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an cruel separation, which pulled relatives into pieces and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel split, which pulled relatives apart and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Historical Origins

Right from its founding in 1810, the village spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for giving all its male members the name Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the peculiarity never stood in the way of the residents socializing in the very same pub, going to the same place of worship and placing their kids to the same educational institution.

Post-War Separation

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. As soon as they arrived, the Russian troops put up timber poles by the stream. For a twelve months they occupied the whole village, creating their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The US forces urged them to pull back back over the brook. For a period, locals could continue to jump across, though as limitations tightened they were forced to present ID, although everyone was aware who they were, and to return at night.

Increase of Boundary Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was erected, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The residents could still see each other by ascending elevations, but on the Soviet side signaling and shouting were forbidden. A female resident was placed on a Stasi watch list for answering “back at you” to a western resident who said her “happy new year”.

Museum Creation

I heard accounts such as these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted much of his professional career building it. Locals were asked early on about how how long a section wall they wanted to keep. They selected a portion on the west edge, adjacent to where one of their own was able to get away in the middle of the night with a ladder, subsequently the boundary was substantially strengthened.

Maintained Buildings

A pair of watchtowers are maintained in addition to a series of displays illustrating the most dramatic moments in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we walk, Lebergen enumerates the restrictions: no one could approach 5km of the boundary. Farmers required particular approval to look after their fields; the husband or wife could operate the combine harvester but under no circumstances the two, lest they attempted to flee. Armed guards stood watch.

Broader Perspective

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic extended 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the northern part to here in the south. Berlin is remembered and honored the greatest, but more than double the number people (exceeding 300) died attempting to cross it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. Lebegern reminds me that 95% of escape attempts did not succeed.

Hamlet Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or artisans, who adjusted to residing in the uncertain territory between 2 political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their farms. They neither backed the socialist government nor fought it, the director states.

Interest

For visitors, however, the settlement became a kind of destination. Roughly 15k visited each year, viewing tools in possession, to stare – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after merger, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a made-up community similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed curiosity.

Current Changes

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, boutique, movie theater and sizable parking lot – is probable to