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A creek so shallow you barely got your ankles wet split a community for in excess of four decades of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by coniferous woods, pastures and stunning vistas, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was established first by a fence and then by a wall. US troops dubbed it Little Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

Months after their own barrier was breached, and before their country had unified again in 1990, a collection of villagers began memorialising their heritage. The effort is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the collapse of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the display was not entirely finished. Telling the residents who experienced the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an cruel split, which pulled families asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which ripped households into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Bygone Context

Starting at its founding in 1810, the village cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most famous for assigning all its male descendants the name Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier told the audience, the oddity never stood in the manner of the inhabitants drinking in the very same tavern, going to the very same place of worship and sending their young ones to the same learning center.

Following WWII Separation

Subsequently occurred the second world war. The moment they came, the Soviet forces put up timber poles by the stream. For a twelve months they took over the complete hamlet, setting up their command in a house on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans convinced them to pull back back over the brook. For a while, residents could still hop over, though as controls tightened they were obliged to display identity papers, despite the fact that each person understood who they were, and to go back at night.

Increase of Boundary Controls

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was erected, with explosives, tank traps and watchtowers. The locals could continue to observe each other by climbing elevations, but on the eastern side gesturing and calling out were forbidden. One woman was added to a GDR intelligence surveillance list for replying “same to you” to a West German villager who greeted her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I heard accounts like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a large part of his occupational time developing it. Villagers were consulted at an early stage about how much wall they wished to keep. They chose a portion on the western fringe, close to where a villager succeeded to get away in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, subsequently the frontier was significantly reinforced.

Maintained Structures

2 observation towers are preserved alongside a collection of displays showing the most dramatic events in the village’s history. As we stroll, Lebergen enumerates the regulations: not a single person could come within 5km of the boundary. Farmers needed specific authorization to look after their fields; the spouse could use the harvesting machine but not the two, for fear that they tried to make a run for it. Armed guards stood watch.

Broader Perspective

The frontier between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic ran 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most frequently, but more than two times more persons (more than 300) died seeking to traverse it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Lebegern tells me that 95% of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Community Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who adjusted to residing in the grey zone between two political systems by avoiding attention and caring for their farms. They did not supported the communist regime nor opposed it, the director states.

Interest

For visitors, however, the settlement became a type of destination. Roughly fifteen thousand came to see each year, binoculars in possession, to gawp – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after merger, the television series, a broadcast production about a fictional village similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed interest.

Present-Day Developments

The opening of the new museum – with a restaurant, store, film screening area and big car park – is likely to