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A creek so low you hardly got your ankles wet split a community for more than four decades of time. By an accident of geography, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by pine forests, fields and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the bad luck to straddle Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a frontier that was established first by a fence and then by a partition. American soldiers called it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

Months after their own barrier was opened, and prior to their nation had unified again in 1990, a assembly of local people began memorialising their history. The project is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the demolition of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially inaugurated by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite finished. Speaking to the residents who endured the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an cruel split, which ripped households apart and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were observers of an brutal division, which tore relatives into pieces and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

Historical Origins

Even at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most renowned for giving all its male members the title Heinrich and labeling them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the quirk never stood in the way of the inhabitants socializing in the very same inn, visiting the very same place of worship and enrolling their young ones to the same educational institution.

Post-War Split

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. The moment they arrived, the Russians put up wood stakes by the creek. For a annual period they took over the complete hamlet, establishing their headquarters in a building on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers persuaded them to withdraw back over the stream. For a while, residents could still jump across, though as restrictions tightened they were forced to present identity papers, even though each person knew who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Increase of Boundary Measures

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal sealing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was built, with mines, tank traps and observation points. The residents could still observe each other by ascending hills, but on the east side gesturing and shouting were banned. One woman was put on a GDR intelligence surveillance list for responding “back at you” to a western resident who said her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Establishment

I was told stories such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a significant portion of his working life developing it. Locals were polled at an early stage about how much structure they wanted to keep. They selected a portion on the west fringe, close to where a local resident succeeded to escape in the dead of night with a climbing device, subsequently the border was substantially fortified.

Preserved Buildings

A pair of observation towers are maintained together with a set of exhibits depicting the most significant dates in the community’s chronicle. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern lists the rules: nobody could approach 5km of the boundary. Rural residents had to obtain specific authorization to tend to their produce; the partner could work the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances both, in case they attempted to escape. Soldiers were on duty.

Wider Background

The border between the Federal Republic and the East Germany ran 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the north to this location in the south. Berlin is commemorated and honored the greatest, but over double the number individuals (more than 300) were killed seeking to pass over it in provincial zones than in the big city. Lebegern tells me that 95% of escape attempts did not succeed.

Village Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or skilled workers, who accommodated to dwelling in the ambiguous area between two political systems by avoiding attention and tending to their farms. They did not backed the East German authorities nor fought it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the village became a type of site of interest. Approximately fifteen thousand visited each year, optical devices in their hands, to stare – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

25 years after merger, the TV show, a television program about a made-up hamlet similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh curiosity.

Present-Day Developments

The inauguration of the new museum – with a cafe, boutique, cinema room and large parking lot – is probable to