ABSTRACT
During the summer of 1945 – only months after Germany's surrender at the end of World War II – the hungry cattle in Modlareuth endlessly bawled in their stalls. The postwar Allied occupation of Germany has been the subject of much historical investigation. By the middle of April 1945, around two weeks before the end of World War II in Germany, American forces crossed the border from Bavaria to occupy most of Thuringia and Saxony as the Allies overran the Third Reich. The US Army established a provisional headquarters in Schleiz. With the establishment in the East of the new "workers' and farmers' state", the SED leadership in Schleiz County required Modlareuthers to have a new pass to cross the Tannbach. Kidnappings continued along the rural stretches of the Hof County border with East Germany. By the beginning of the 1950s, the division had numerous other influences on everyday life.
