🔗 Share this article

A creek so narrow you hardly got your ankles wet divided a village for over four decades. By an accident of geography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by coniferous woods, pastures and breathtaking views, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to straddle Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a boundary that was established first by a barrier and then by a wall. US troops nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Preserving History

Several months after their own division was breached, and before their nation had reunified in 1990, a group of residents set about memorialising their history. The effort is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the collapse of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was publicly inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not entirely prepared. Telling the villagers who lived through the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an brutal separation, which tore relatives asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal division, which ripped families into pieces and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Bygone Origins

Right from its establishment in 1810, the community straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most famous for assigning all its male members the name Heinrich and counting them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the oddity never stood in the path of the inhabitants socializing in the identical pub, attending the same religious building and sending their young ones to the same school.

Following WWII Separation

Next arrived the second world war. As soon as they came, the Soviet forces installed wooden posts by the creek. For a twelve months they occupied the complete village, creating their headquarters in a building on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers convinced them to retreat back over the creek. For a time, residents could still hop over, though as limitations tightened they were forced to present identification, despite the fact that all was aware who they were, and to go back at evening.

Intensification of Frontier Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was constructed, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and guard posts. The locals could still view each other by scaling hills, but on the Soviet side waving and calling out were forbidden. A local woman was put on a Stasi surveillance list for replying “likewise” to a western resident who greeted her “good new year”.

Museum Development

It was related to me stories including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a significant portion of his occupational time developing it. Residents were asked in the initial phases about how how long a section barrier they desired to preserve. They selected a stretch on the western edge, adjacent to where a villager managed to flee in the middle of the night with a ladder, subsequently the boundary was heavily strengthened.

Preserved Installations

A pair of watchtowers are conserved together with a collection of exhibits illustrating the most impactful dates in the hamlet’s history. As we walk, Robert Lebegern lists the rules: nobody could approach 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers had to obtain particular approval to look after their produce; the partner could operate the combine harvester but never the pair, lest they tried to make a run for it. Military personnel kept guard.

Wider Perspective

The boundary between West Germany and the East Germany stretched nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and documented the most, but more than two times more persons (more than 300) died attempting to cross it in provincial zones than in the big city. the director reminds me that 95 percent of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Community Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were rural laborers or craftsmen, who adjusted to dwelling in the ambiguous area between 2 political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their land. They nor did they supported the communist regime nor resisted it, Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the settlement became a sort of destination. Approximately 15,000 came to visit every year, binoculars in their hands, to look – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

25 years after reunification, the TV show, a TV series about a made-up hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, led to new attention.

Current Evolutions

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a cafe, boutique, cinema room and sizable parking lot – is expected to