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A creek so shallow you barely got your ankles wet divided a community for over four decades. Because of a chance of geography, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by evergreen groves, pastures and stunning vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a boundary that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a barricade. United States military personnel called it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Months after their own barrier was torn down, and prior to their state had become one in 1990, a collection of villagers set about memorialising their history. The work is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the demolition of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially inaugurated by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not completely finished. Addressing the locals who endured the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which ripped relatives asunder and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which pulled relatives into pieces and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Historical Origins

Right from its founding in 1810, the village cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a princely house most renowned for bestowing all its male members the designation Heinrich and labeling them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the peculiarity did not stand in the way of the inhabitants gathering in the very same pub, attending the same place of worship and enrolling their kids to the identical educational institution.

Post-War Division

Then came the global conflict. The moment they arrived, the Russian troops installed wood stakes by the creek. For a year they seized the whole village, creating their command in a house on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers convinced them to pull back back over the creek. For a period, locals could still hop over, though as restrictions increased they were required to show ID, despite the fact that all understood who they were, and to come back at night.

Increase of Frontier Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was erected, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The locals could still observe each other by scaling elevations, but on the Soviet side gesturing and yelling were prohibited. A female resident was added to a GDR intelligence surveillance list for replying “same to you” to a Bavarian local who said her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Development

I was told stories like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a significant portion of his working life creating it. Residents were asked at an early stage about how how long a section structure they wished to keep. They chose a stretch on the west edge, near where one of their own managed to get away in the dead of night with a scaling tool, subsequently the boundary was substantially reinforced.

Conserved Installations

A pair of watchtowers are maintained alongside a series of exhibits showing the most dramatic dates in the community’s past. As we walk, Lebergen lists the rules: not a single person could approach 5km of the frontier. Rural residents had to obtain special permission to care for their produce; the husband or wife could operate the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the two, for fear that they tried to flee. Military personnel were on duty.

Larger Context

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the East Germany stretched 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and documented the most, but over two times more individuals (well over 300) died seeking to cross it in rural areas than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern reminds me that almost all of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Village Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or skilled workers, who adjusted to living in the uncertain territory between a pair of political systems by staying low-profile and caring for their fields. They nor did they supported the East German authorities nor fought it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the village became a kind of site of interest. About fifteen thousand visited every year, optical devices in hand, to stare – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

25 years after reunification, the TV show, a TV series about a fictional hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, caused fresh attention.

Present-Day Developments

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, shop, film screening area and big vehicle area – is probable to