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An creek so low you scarcely got your feet wet separated a village for more than four decades. Because of a chance of landscape, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, fields and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a frontier that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a barricade. American soldiers nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Preserving the Past

Months after their own division was breached, and even before their country had reunified in 1990, a assembly of local people started commemorating their past. The work is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth remembrance of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was officially inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not entirely finished. Addressing the residents who endured the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which ripped households asunder and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an brutal split, which tore families apart and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

Past Origins

Right from its founding in 1810, the village spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most famous for bestowing all its male members the name Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the oddity was never an obstacle in the way of the locals socializing in the same pub, attending the identical place of worship and enrolling their young ones to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Division

Next arrived the second world war. The moment they appeared, the Russian troops erected wood stakes by the creek. For a annual period they occupied the entire hamlet, setting up their headquarters in a house on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The Americans convinced them to retreat across the brook. For a time, residents could still hop over, though as controls became stricter they were obliged to show identification, even though everyone was aware who they were, and to return at night.

Increase of Frontier Measures

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was constructed, with landmines, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The residents could continue to observe each other by ascending hills, but on the eastern side signaling and yelling were banned. A local woman was placed on a GDR intelligence monitoring list for replying “back at you” to a Bavarian local who said her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Development

I was told narratives such as these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted a large part of his working life developing it. Locals were consulted early on about how much barrier they desired to preserve. They chose a stretch on the west edge, adjacent to where a local resident managed to flee in the darkest hours with a ladder, following which the border was heavily strengthened.

Maintained Buildings

Two observation towers are preserved alongside a series of exhibits showing the most significant dates in the hamlet’s history. As we walk, Robert Lebegern enumerates the restrictions: nobody could approach 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers needed special permission to look after their produce; the spouse could operate the agricultural equipment but never both, for fear that they sought to flee. Armed guards kept guard.

Wider Background

The frontier between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the north to this location in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most frequently, but more than double the number individuals (more than 300) were killed seeking to traverse it in countryside regions than in the urban center. the director reminds me that 95% of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Community Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who adjusted to dwelling in the uncertain territory between 2 ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and caring for their fields. They neither supported the socialist government nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Interest

For tourists, however, the settlement became a kind of pilgrimage. Approximately 15k came to visit each year, optical devices in their hands, to stare – and then rapidly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

Twenty five years after unification, the TV show, a TV series about a fictional village similar to Mödlareuth, led to new curiosity.

Modern Changes

The launch of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, boutique, movie theater and sizable car park – is probable to