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A creek so low you hardly got your ankles wet split a settlement for over four decades. Because of a chance of landscape, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by pine forests, meadows and stunning scenery, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to span Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a frontier that was established first by a barrier and then by a barricade. US troops dubbed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Months after their own wall was opened, and even before their country had unified again in 1990, a group of local people set about memorialising their heritage. The project is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth remembrance of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the display was not completely prepared. Telling the villagers who lived through the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an brutal division, which ripped families asunder and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which pulled relatives asunder and turned local residents into aliens.”

Historical Context

Right from its establishment in 1810, the community cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for assigning all its men the title Heinrich and numbering them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the oddity was never an obstacle in the manner of the inhabitants socializing in the very same pub, going to the very same church and sending their children to the identical learning center.

Following WWII Separation

Subsequently occurred the World War II. The moment they appeared, the Russian troops put up wooden posts by the brook. For a annual period they occupied the whole hamlet, creating their command in a building on the Bavarian side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers persuaded them to retreat to the other side of the brook. For a while, villagers could still cross over, though as restrictions increased they were required to display ID, although everyone was aware who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Escalation of Frontier Controls

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was erected, with mines, tank traps and guard posts. The villagers could still see each other by ascending elevations, but on the east side gesturing and calling out were prohibited. A female resident was put on a GDR intelligence surveillance list for replying “back at you” to a western villager who said her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Establishment

I heard stories such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated much of his professional career developing it. Residents were polled early on about how how long a section wall they wished to maintain. They selected a section on the west edge, near where a local resident succeeded to flee in the middle of the night with a ladder, following which the border was significantly reinforced.

Conserved Buildings

A pair of watchtowers are preserved in addition to a series of tableaux depicting the most impactful dates in the village’s past. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern lists the restrictions: no one could come within 5km of the border. Rural residents had to obtain specific authorization to look after their crops; the spouse could operate the combine harvester but not the two, for fear that they tried to flee. Soldiers kept guard.

Wider Context

The border between Western Germany and the East Germany stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and documented the greatest, but more than double the number people (well over 300) died seeking to pass over it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Lebegern reminds me that 95% of efforts to cross did not succeed.

Community Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were rural laborers or skilled workers, who adjusted to residing in the grey zone between a pair of belief systems by staying low-profile and tending to their farms. They did not endorsed the East German authorities nor fought it, the director states.

Interest

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a type of pilgrimage. About 15,000 came to see annually, optical devices in possession, to look – and then quickly leave. 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 similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in new interest.

Current Developments

The launch of the new museum – with a restaurant, store, film screening area and sizable car park – is expected to