🔗 Share this article

An brook so shallow you hardly got your feet wet split a settlement for in excess of four decades worth of time. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by pine forests, pastures and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to span Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a boundary that was marked first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. United States military personnel nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving the Past

Months after their own division was breached, and prior to their country had unified again in 1990, a group of residents began documenting their history. The work is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not entirely finished. Speaking to the locals who endured the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an inhuman split, which ripped households asunder and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an brutal split, which tore households asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Bygone Origins

Starting at its founding in 1810, the community spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a royal family best known for giving all its men the name Heinrich and counting them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the path of the locals gathering in the very same inn, visiting the same church and enrolling their young ones to the identical learning center.

After the War Division

Subsequently occurred the World War II. The moment they arrived, the Russians erected wood stakes by the creek. For a twelve months they seized the whole community, creating their command in a building on the Bavarian side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The Americans persuaded them to pull back back over the creek. For a period, villagers could continue to cross over, though as restrictions increased they were forced to present identity papers, although each person was aware who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Intensification of Boundary Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was erected, with explosives, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The residents could still observe each other by climbing hills, but on the east side gesturing and yelling were forbidden. A local woman was put on a East German secret police watch list for answering “back at you” to a West German resident who greeted her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I heard narratives like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent much of his occupational time developing it. Residents were consulted at an early stage about how much structure they wanted to maintain. They chose a section on the western perimeter, near where a local resident was able to flee in the darkest hours with a ladder, subsequently the frontier was heavily reinforced.

Maintained Buildings

2 observation towers are preserved in addition to a series of exhibits illustrating the most significant events in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern enumerates the restrictions: no one could approach 5km of the frontier. Rural residents required particular approval to tend to their produce; the husband or wife could work the combine harvester but not the pair, in case they sought to flee. Soldiers stood watch.

Wider Perspective

The border between the Federal Republic and the East Germany extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most, but in excess of two times more persons (more than 300) were killed seeking to traverse it in countryside regions than in the big city. the director reminds me that 95 percent of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Community Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or craftsmen, who accommodated to dwelling in the grey zone between 2 ideological spheres by avoiding attention and caring for their farms. They nor did they supported the East German authorities nor fought it, Robert Lebegern states.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the settlement became a kind of destination. About 15,000 came to see each year, binoculars in their hands, to stare – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defense official.

25 years after reunification, the TV show, a television program about a imaginary village like Mödlareuth, caused new interest.

Modern Changes

The launch of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, shop, film screening area and sizable parking lot – is probable to