🔗 Share this article

A stream so low you barely got your ankles wet divided a community for over four decades. Because of a chance of landscape, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by coniferous woods, fields and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a wall. US troops dubbed it Little Berlin.

Preserving History

Several months after their own division was opened, and even before their nation had reunified in 1990, a group of villagers started memorialising their past. The effort is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition was not completely prepared. Telling the locals who experienced the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an inhuman division, which pulled families into pieces and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an cruel separation, which ripped relatives asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Bygone Background

Even at its creation in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a princely house most famous for bestowing all its male members the name Heinrich and counting them in order by birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the peculiarity did not stand in the way of the inhabitants socializing in the very same pub, visiting the identical church and placing their kids to the same school.

After the War Separation

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. The moment they came, the Russian troops erected timber poles by the creek. For a year they occupied the entire community, creating their command in a building on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans convinced them to withdraw across the stream. For a time, residents could still cross over, though as controls became stricter they were forced to present identification, although everyone was aware who they were, and to go back at night.

Increase of Frontier Measures

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was erected, with landmines, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The residents could continue to see each other by climbing slopes, but on the east side signaling and yelling were prohibited. A local woman was put on a GDR intelligence monitoring list for answering “same to you” to a West German resident who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Development

It was related to me narratives such as these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent much of his professional career creating it. Villagers were consulted early on about how much structure they wished to preserve. They chose a section on the Bavarian edge, near where one of their own managed to get away in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, subsequently the border was significantly fortified.

Preserved Buildings

Two observation towers are maintained in addition to a collection of exhibits showing the most significant dates in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we move, Robert Lebegern details the regulations: no one could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Rural residents needed specific authorization to care for their crops; the husband or wife could work the agricultural equipment but not the two, in case they sought to escape. Military personnel stood watch.

Wider Perspective

The border between West Germany and the East Germany extended 1,400km, from the northern sea in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and honored the most frequently, but in excess of twice as many individuals (exceeding 300) lost their lives seeking to cross it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Lebegern tells me that almost all of escape attempts did not succeed.

Hamlet Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or craftsmen, who adapted to living in the uncertain territory between two political systems by staying low-profile and caring for their fields. They nor did they endorsed the East German authorities nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the village became a type of site of interest. Approximately fifteen thousand came to see annually, binoculars in possession, to stare – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after reunification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a imaginary village resembling Mödlareuth, caused fresh attention.

Modern Evolutions

The launch of the recently established museum – with a cafe, store, film screening area and big car park – is expected to