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An stream so low you scarcely got your feet wet divided a community for in excess of four decades of time. Due to a quirk of landscape, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by coniferous woods, pastures and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a frontier that was marked first by a barrier and then by a partition. US troops called it Small Berlin.

Commemorating History

A few months after their own barrier was torn down, and prior to their country had reunified in 1990, a collection of villagers began documenting their past. The work is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the fall of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display was not completely finished. Speaking to the locals who lived through the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an cruel split, which tore households apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

“You were observers of an inhuman split, which pulled families asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Bygone Context

Even at its creation in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most famous for assigning all its male descendants the title Heinrich and counting them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the manner of the locals socializing in the identical pub, visiting the same church and enrolling their kids to the same school.

Post-War Split

Subsequently occurred the second world war. The moment they appeared, the Russians installed wood stakes by the creek. For a twelve months they occupied the complete village, setting up their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The Americans persuaded them to retreat across the creek. For a while, residents could still jump across, though as restrictions became stricter they were obliged to show ID, although all knew who they were, and to come back at night.

Increase of Frontier Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was constructed, with mines, tank traps and watchtowers. The villagers could still see each other by climbing slopes, but on the east side signaling and calling out were forbidden. One woman was added to a East German secret police watch list for answering “back at you” to a Bavarian resident who wished her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I heard stories including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent much of his professional career building it. Locals were polled early on about how what length of wall they desired to maintain. They opted for a stretch on the Bavarian edge, adjacent to where one of their own managed to flee in the dead of night with a climbing device, subsequently the boundary was heavily strengthened.

Maintained Buildings

A pair of watchtowers are maintained alongside a set of tableaux showing the most impactful events in the hamlet’s past. As we move, Lebergen lists the regulations: no one could approach 5km of the boundary. Farmers needed particular approval to care for their produce; the husband or wife could use the combine harvester but never the two, for fear that they sought to escape. Armed guards stood watch.

Broader Context

The frontier between West Germany and the East Germany extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most frequently, but in excess of two times more people (well over 300) lost their lives seeking to cross it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95 percent of efforts to cross failed.

Hamlet Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who accommodated to dwelling in the grey zone between 2 ideological spheres by avoiding attention and caring for their land. They did not backed the communist regime nor fought it, the director explains.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the hamlet became a sort of pilgrimage. Roughly 15,000 came to visit every year, optical devices in hand, to stare – and then rapidly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

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

Present-Day Evolutions

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, store, film screening area and big vehicle area – is expected to