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A brook so narrow you scarcely got your feet wet split a village for over four decades. Because of a chance of geography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by coniferous woods, fields and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a boundary that was established first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. US troops called it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating History

Months after their own wall was opened, and prior to their nation had reunified in 1990, a assembly of residents set about commemorating their past. The project is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition was not entirely prepared. Addressing the residents who lived through the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an cruel division, which pulled households apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

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

Historical Background

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the community straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a royal family most famous for assigning all its male members the name Heinrich and numbering them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the locals gathering in the identical inn, attending the same place of worship and sending their young ones to the very same learning center.

After the War Separation

Then came the World War II. As soon as they appeared, the Soviet forces put up wooden posts by the stream. For a annual period they took over the complete hamlet, setting up their headquarters in a dwelling on the western side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces urged them to retreat across the stream. For a time, villagers could still hop over, though as controls became stricter they were required to show identification, despite the fact that each person knew who they were, and to return at evening.

Increase of Border Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was built, with landmines, tank traps and watchtowers. The locals could still view each other by ascending slopes, but on the Soviet side signaling and shouting were forbidden. A female resident was put on a Stasi monitoring list for answering “likewise” to a western resident who said her “happy new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

It was related to me narratives like these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated much of his working life creating it. Residents were polled early on about how what length of barrier they desired to keep. They chose a stretch on the Bavarian fringe, close to where one of their own succeeded to flee in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, subsequently the border was significantly fortified.

Maintained Installations

2 watchtowers are preserved in addition to a set of displays depicting the most significant dates in the community’s past. As we stroll, Lebergen details the restrictions: nobody could approach 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers had to obtain specific authorization to look after their fields; the husband or wife could use the combine harvester but under no circumstances both, in case they attempted to flee. Soldiers were on duty.

Larger Perspective

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the East Germany extended 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and honored the most frequently, but more than two times more persons (more than 300) lost their lives seeking to cross it in countryside regions than in the big city. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95% of escape attempts did not succeed.

Community Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or artisans, who adjusted to living in the grey zone between a pair of ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and tending to their land. They nor did they endorsed the communist regime nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a type of destination. About 15,000 came to see every year, binoculars in possession, to look – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

25 years after unification, the television series, a broadcast production about a imaginary village like Mödlareuth, led to new curiosity.

Modern Developments

The inauguration of the new museum – with a restaurant, store, cinema room and large car park – is probable to