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A creek so low you scarcely got your ankles wet separated a settlement for over four decades worth of time. By an accident of topography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by evergreen groves, fields and stunning scenery, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the misfortune to cross Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a frontier that was established first by a barrier and then by a partition. United States military personnel called it Small Berlin.

Preserving History

Months after their own barrier was torn down, and even before their state had unified again in 1990, a group of residents began memorialising their past. The work is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the demolition of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was officially inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not completely ready. Speaking to the locals who lived through the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were observers of an inhuman division, which pulled relatives asunder and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an inhuman split, which ripped households into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Historical Origins

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the village spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house best known for assigning all its male descendants the title Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the quirk was never an obstacle in the manner of the locals drinking in the same pub, attending the same religious building and enrolling their children to the very same learning center.

Following WWII Division

Then came the World War II. As soon as they came, the Russian troops put up timber poles by the creek. For a twelve months they took over the complete village, setting up their headquarters in a building on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces urged them to retreat back over the stream. For a while, locals could still hop over, though as restrictions increased they were obliged to present identity papers, although each person was aware who they were, and to come back at night.

Escalation of Border Controls

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was erected, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The residents could still observe each other by scaling hills, but on the eastern side gesturing and yelling were forbidden. A female resident was added to a GDR intelligence surveillance list for responding “back at you” to a western local who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Development

It was related to me stories like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a large part of his occupational time creating it. Villagers were asked early on about how much structure they desired to preserve. They chose a stretch on the Bavarian fringe, close to where one of their own managed to get away in the darkest hours with a ladder, after which the border was heavily fortified.

Maintained Structures

Two watchtowers are maintained alongside a collection of displays depicting the most dramatic dates in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we stroll, Lebergen enumerates the restrictions: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the border. Farmers needed specific authorization to care for their produce; the partner could use the harvesting machine but not the two, in case they tried to escape. Armed guards were on duty.

Larger Background

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the East Germany ran nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the most, but in excess of double the number people (more than 300) were killed attempting to traverse it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. Lebegern reminds me that 95% of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Community Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or artisans, who adapted to living in the ambiguous area between 2 political systems by avoiding attention and caring for their farms. They nor did they backed the communist regime nor opposed it, Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a sort of destination. Approximately 15,000 came to see each year, viewing tools in possession, to stare – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defense official.

25 years after merger, the TV show, a television program about a made-up hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh curiosity.

Current Developments

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a cafe, store, movie theater and big parking lot – is likely to