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A stream so narrow you barely got your feet wet separated a village for more than four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by coniferous woods, pastures and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to straddle Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a frontier that was established first by a fence and then by a wall. US troops nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Several months after their own division was opened, and before their country had become one in 1990, a group of villagers started commemorating their past. The effort is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the fall of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally inaugurated by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not completely ready. Telling the villagers who endured the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which tore households into pieces and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which ripped families into pieces and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Past Background

Even at its establishment in 1810, the community straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most famous for giving all its men the title Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the way of the inhabitants gathering in the very same tavern, attending the same religious building and placing their kids to the same educational institution.

Following WWII Separation

Subsequently occurred the World War II. As soon as they arrived, the Russian troops installed wooden posts by the creek. For a twelve months they occupied the complete village, setting up their control center in a building on the western side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The US forces urged them to withdraw across the stream. For a while, locals could still cross over, though as controls increased they were forced to show identity papers, even though all was aware who they were, and to return at night.

Intensification of Boundary Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came barbed wire and the legal shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was constructed, with landmines, tank traps and watchtowers. The locals could still see each other by climbing slopes, but on the Soviet side gesturing and yelling were forbidden. A local woman was added to a Stasi watch list for answering “back at you” to a West German local who greeted her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

I was told accounts such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent a significant portion of his professional career building it. Residents were polled early on about how how long a section barrier they desired to keep. They selected a portion on the western edge, close to where a villager was able to get away in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, after which the border was significantly reinforced.

Maintained Buildings

2 observation towers are conserved together with a collection of displays showing the most significant dates in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we stroll, Lebergen details the regulations: nobody could approach 5km of the boundary. Rural residents had to obtain special permission to look after their fields; the partner could operate the combine harvester but under no circumstances the pair, lest they attempted to escape. Military personnel kept guard.

Larger Context

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the East Germany stretched 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and honored the most frequently, but more than twice as many individuals (exceeding 300) were killed seeking to pass over it in rural areas than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern tells me that 95% of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Village Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or artisans, who adapted to residing in the grey zone between a pair of ideological spheres by staying low-profile and caring for their farms. They nor did they backed the socialist government nor fought it, the director explains.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a sort of site of interest. About 15,000 visited every year, viewing tools in hand, to gawp – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after reunification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a imaginary hamlet like Mödlareuth, led to fresh curiosity.

Current Evolutions

The inauguration of the new museum – with a restaurant, store, cinema room and large parking lot – is expected to