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An brook so shallow you barely got your feet wet separated a community for over four decades of time. By an accident of landscape, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement encircled by coniferous woods, pastures and stunning scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a frontier that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a wall. US troops nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Preserving the Past

Several months after their own barrier was opened, and before their country had unified again in 1990, a assembly of residents set about memorialising their heritage. The effort is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the collapse of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show wasn’t quite ready. Speaking to the villagers who experienced the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an cruel division, which ripped households into pieces and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal split, which pulled households asunder and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Historical Background

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for giving all its male descendants the title Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the oddity did not stand in the way of the residents drinking in the very same inn, visiting the very same place of worship and sending their children to the very same learning center.

Post-War Division

Then came the global conflict. As soon as they arrived, the Soviet forces erected wood stakes by the creek. For a annual period they took over the entire village, establishing their headquarters in a dwelling on the western side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The US forces convinced them to retreat to the other side of the creek. For a time, residents could continue to hop over, though as limitations tightened they were required to present identity papers, despite the fact that each person understood who they were, and to come back at evening.

Increase of Boundary Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was built, with mines, tank traps and observation points. The residents could continue to view each other by climbing slopes, but on the eastern side signaling and yelling were forbidden. One woman was put on a Stasi monitoring list for replying “back at you” to a western local who greeted her “happy new year”.

Exhibition Center Creation

I heard narratives including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated much of his occupational time developing it. Locals were consulted in the initial phases about how what length of structure they wanted to maintain. They selected a portion on the west fringe, close to where a villager managed to get away in the middle of the night with a ladder, subsequently the frontier was significantly fortified.

Preserved Structures

Two guard towers are preserved in addition to a collection of displays illustrating the most dramatic dates in the hamlet’s history. As we stroll, the director enumerates the restrictions: nobody could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers required specific authorization to tend to their crops; the spouse could use the harvesting machine but never the pair, lest they tried to escape. Military personnel kept guard.

Larger Perspective

The boundary between Western Germany and the East Germany extended 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most frequently, but more than twice as many people (well over 300) were killed seeking to cross it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Lebegern informs me that 95% of attempts to flee failed.

Village Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or skilled workers, who accommodated to dwelling in the grey zone between 2 ideological spheres by avoiding attention and caring for their farms. They did not backed the East German authorities nor fought it, Lebegern clarifies.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the hamlet became a sort of site of interest. About 15,000 visited every year, viewing tools in their hands, to gawp – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after unification, the TV show, a television program about a made-up village resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh attention.

Current Changes

The opening of the recently established museum – with a cafe, store, movie theater and sizable vehicle area – is likely to