Alfred Seiland Mödlareuth (Thuringia)

In early December 1989 I was scheduled to travel to Mödlareuth on behalf of the magazine of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, my task – to document the reunification of Germany, using this small town as an example. I was unable to leave straight away, as I was occupied with another project. I finally set off with my car between Christmas and New Year, heading for this small town near Hof, an area that I was visiting for the first time as a result of this assignment.  A curious tension arose during the journey, increasing the closer I came to this “gap in the Wall”. In the western part of the town a car park had already been established above the town to take advantage of the Wall tourism. From there it was possible for the first time to witness the curious situation that prevailed in Mödlareuth: the town meandered through the hilly landscape on both sides of the Wall, which was located in the valley. It was almost as if the intention was to enable the family members divided by decades of separation to at least maintain eye contact with one another. Although I arrived too late to incorporate the scenes of Mödlareuth inhabitants hugging one another, the sense of relief that pervaded the area was still palpable during this festive period. Although here, in the remote countryside, everything evolved far more slowly than in distant Berlin. On my daily walks through the five-metre-wide gap in the Wall, accompanied by large-format camera and tripod, I was frequently required to report to the border guards stationed just a few feet from one another. There was a restriction on the eastern side, however: I was not allowed to move further than 100 metres from the Wall in the open area. After this week spent in Mödlareuth, on my way back to Austria I was overcome by the feeling that I myself had become part of this newly-acquired freedom.