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An stream so low you scarcely got your ankles wet split a settlement for more than four decades of time. Due to a quirk of landscape, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by coniferous woods, fields and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to cross the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a border that was established first by a barrier and then by a wall. American soldiers called it Small Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

Months after their own division was torn down, and even before their state had become one in 1990, a collection of residents set about memorialising their heritage. The work is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the fall of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite prepared. Addressing the villagers who lived through the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an brutal split, which pulled households asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal division, which tore families into pieces and turned local residents into aliens.”

Past Background

Even at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family most famous for bestowing all its male members the designation Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the peculiarity never stood in the way of the inhabitants socializing in the very same tavern, attending the identical religious building and sending their young ones to the very same learning center.

Following WWII Split

Subsequently occurred the World War II. The moment they came, the Russians installed wood stakes by the stream. For a annual period they seized the entire community, setting up their control center in a dwelling on the western side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces persuaded them to pull back across the creek. For a time, locals could still cross over, though as restrictions increased they were forced to show identification, even though all understood who they were, and to go back at night.

Increase of Frontier Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was erected, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The residents could still observe each other by scaling hills, but on the east side gesturing and shouting were banned. One woman was added to a East German secret police surveillance list for replying “back at you” to a western resident who said her “happy new year”.

Museum Development

I was told stories including these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has devoted much of his professional career building it. Locals were consulted at an early stage about how much wall they wanted to keep. They opted for a section on the Bavarian fringe, close to where a villager was able to escape in the middle of the night with a ladder, subsequently the frontier was heavily reinforced.

Conserved Installations

2 watchtowers are maintained alongside a set of exhibits depicting the most significant moments in the village’s chronicle. As we stroll, the director enumerates the rules: not a single person could approach 5km of the boundary. Farmers required specific authorization to tend to their produce; the partner could operate the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances the two, for fear that they sought to escape. Armed guards stood watch.

Broader Perspective

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most, but over twice as many people (more than 300) died trying to traverse it in rural areas than in the urban center. Lebegern tells me that 95% of efforts to cross failed.

Community Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or artisans, who adjusted to living in the grey zone between 2 ideological spheres by staying low-profile and tending to their land. They nor did they endorsed the socialist government nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Interest

For tourists, however, the settlement became a type of destination. About 15k visited each year, optical devices in possession, to gawp – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the TV show, a television program about a made-up village like Mödlareuth, resulted in new curiosity.

Present-Day Developments

The launch of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, boutique, movie theater and large parking lot – is probable to