A new border was drawn up.
Anything that came in the way was bulldozed.
Modlareuth, with its community split between the two states, found themselves in a peculiar position.
A 10-yard buffer zone was set up along the stream that people once walked back and forth at will.
Now they had show papers each time they crossed.
Nearly a decade later, the border became more tangible, more permanent and more restricting.
A section of the wall at Modlareuth.
A brick wall went up, two brick walls in fact, with a no-mans zone in between.
This was accompanied by watch towers, guard dogs and machine gun-toting guards.
Later, mines were installed along the wall in East Modlareuth as a further deterrent.
The wall through Modlareuth was 700 meters long, and with no checkpoint, it truly separated the village.
Approaching the wall from the East German side meant sure death.
Photographing the wall was punishable by imprisonment.
Even waving at friends or family across the border could get you into trouble.
Families were divided, requests to go to the other side was refused, even for funerals.
Part of the Wall in the old East German village of Modlareuth.
Apart from Berlin, Modlareuth was one of only handful of communities that was slashed through by the wall.
Even US vice president George H.W.
Bush made a stop at Modlareuth during an official visit to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1983.
Six months later, the Modlareuth Wall was knocked down using a bulldozer.
Modlareuth still remains a divided village, owning to its geography.
The stream that forms the boundary between Thuringia and Bavaria, which runs through the middle of the village.
Photograph taken in 1949.
Image credit: Google Street View
Image credit:Taylor Sargeant/Flickr
A model of the village at Modlareuth Museum.
