🔗 Share this article

A stream so shallow you hardly got your feet wet divided a settlement for more than four decades of time. By an accident of geography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by evergreen groves, meadows and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a boundary that was established first by a fence and then by a partition. United States military personnel nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Months after their own barrier was opened, and prior to their nation had unified again in 1990, a group of residents set about documenting their history. The effort is close to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the fall of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show was not entirely finished. Telling the locals who lived through the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an cruel division, which tore families into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an cruel division, which pulled relatives apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Past Context

Starting at its founding in 1810, the village straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family best known for bestowing all its male descendants the name Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the oddity never stood in the manner of the residents socializing in the same inn, visiting the identical place of worship and sending their children to the same learning center.

Post-War Separation

Subsequently occurred the second world war. As soon as they arrived, the Russians erected wood stakes by the creek. For a year they took over the whole hamlet, establishing their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers urged them to pull back across the brook. For a while, locals could continue to jump across, though as restrictions became stricter they were forced to present ID, despite the fact that all was aware who they were, and to go back at evening.

Increase of Boundary Controls

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was erected, with mines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The villagers could still see each other by ascending hills, but on the east side signaling and shouting were banned. A local woman was placed on a East German secret police surveillance list for responding “same to you” to a western resident who said her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I heard accounts including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a large part of his working life developing it. Residents were asked early on about how much wall they desired to preserve. They opted for a portion on the western fringe, adjacent to where one of their own succeeded to escape in the dead of night with a climbing device, following which the frontier was significantly fortified.

Preserved Structures

2 watchtowers are preserved in addition to a collection of displays showing the most impactful moments in the community’s history. As we stroll, Lebergen lists the rules: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the border. Rural residents required particular approval to look after their produce; the husband or wife could work the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the pair, lest they sought to make a run for it. Armed guards stood watch.

Broader Context

The border between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic extended 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to this location in the south. Berlin is recalled and honored the greatest, but in excess of two times more people (exceeding 300) were killed trying to traverse it in rural areas than in the urban center. Lebegern tells me that 95% of escape attempts failed.

Village Existence

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or craftsmen, who accommodated to dwelling in the ambiguous area between two political systems by staying low-profile and caring for their fields. They did not endorsed the socialist government nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the village became a kind of site of interest. Roughly fifteen thousand came to see every year, viewing tools in hand, to gawp – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty five years after unification, Tannbach, a TV series about a fictional community like Mödlareuth, caused fresh attention.

Modern Developments

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, shop, film screening area and large parking lot – is probable to