🔗 Share this article

A creek so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet split a village for in excess of four decades of time. By an accident of geography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by evergreen groves, pastures and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a frontier that was marked first by a fence and then by a barricade. American soldiers called it Small Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Several months after their own wall was breached, and prior to their nation had reunified in 1990, a group of local people set about commemorating their past. The work is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the fall of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the display was not entirely finished. Addressing the villagers who lived through the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which tore households into pieces and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which ripped families apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

Historical Context

Even at its founding in 1810, the community spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family most famous for bestowing all its male members the designation Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier told the audience, the oddity did not stand in the manner of the locals socializing in the identical inn, going to the same religious building and enrolling their children to the identical educational institution.

Post-War Split

Then came the global conflict. The moment they arrived, the Russian troops erected wooden posts by the creek. For a twelve months they occupied the complete village, creating their headquarters in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to pull back back over the creek. For a period, villagers could still hop over, though as controls tightened they were forced to display identity papers, even though all understood who they were, and to go back at night.

Increase of Boundary Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was erected, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The residents could still view each other by scaling slopes, but on the eastern side waving and shouting were prohibited. A local woman was added to a GDR intelligence monitoring list for responding “likewise” to a western villager who wished her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I was told stories including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a significant portion of his working life building it. Residents were asked early on about how what length of wall they desired to maintain. They selected a stretch on the Bavarian perimeter, close to where a local resident managed to flee in the darkest hours with a climbing device, subsequently the frontier was heavily fortified.

Maintained Installations

2 watchtowers are maintained together with a series of tableaux depicting the most impactful events in the hamlet’s past. As we walk, Robert Lebegern enumerates the rules: nobody could approach 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain special permission to tend to their fields; the husband or wife could operate the combine harvester but under no circumstances the two, for fear that they sought to flee. Armed guards were on duty.

Broader Context

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the East Germany ran nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and documented the most, but in excess of two times more people (well over 300) were killed trying to cross it in countryside regions than in the urban center. the director tells me that 95% of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Community Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or craftsmen, who adapted to dwelling in the ambiguous area between two belief systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their farms. They did not backed the East German authorities nor fought it, Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the village became a type of destination. Roughly 15,000 came to see each year, viewing tools in hand, to stare – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty five years after merger, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a imaginary community resembling Mödlareuth, caused renewed interest.

Modern Changes

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, shop, film screening area and sizable parking lot – is probable to