ABSTRACT
According to a contemporary Hof County newspaper report, Heldt's daughter-in-law ran from the family home to the field with the news that the East German police had arrived demanding each of the four family member's identification papers. Having a clear picture of the details is further complicated by the fact that ten other locals not selected for removal fled across the border in the area by June 7, though county police documents do not indicate exactly where they crossed. A West German journalist who visited West Modlareuth in July to report on the relocation wrote: "All is quiet on the border" said some border guards as people stopped briefly at a border checkpoint. This chapter argues that the 1952 removal operation ushered in an antagonistic relationship between close-knit villagers in the small, isolated community and the state. Over much of the following decade, locals would not shy away from confronting the state concerning matters of agriculture central to their lives.
