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A creek so low you barely got your feet wet split a settlement for in excess of four decades worth of time. Because of a chance of geography, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by evergreen groves, meadows and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the bad luck to span the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a border that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a wall. US troops nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Preserving History

A few months after their own division was torn down, and before their country had unified again in 1990, a assembly of villagers started commemorating their history. The project is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the demolition of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not completely prepared. Addressing the residents who experienced the past era, Steinmeier remarked: “You were bystanders of an cruel division, which tore families asunder and turned neighbors into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal division, which ripped families asunder and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Past Context

Even at its establishment in 1810, the village straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most famous for giving all its male descendants the title Heinrich and counting them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the oddity never stood in the path of the locals gathering in the same pub, attending the very same church and enrolling their children to the identical school.

Following WWII Split

Next arrived the second world war. The moment they appeared, the Russian troops put up timber poles by the brook. For a annual period they occupied the entire hamlet, establishing their headquarters in a dwelling on the western side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans urged them to retreat to the other side of the stream. For a time, residents could still jump across, though as limitations became stricter they were required to show identity papers, despite the fact that everyone was aware who they were, and to come back at night.

Intensification of Boundary Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was erected, with mines, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The residents could still see each other by climbing hills, but on the east side gesturing and yelling were forbidden. One woman was put on a Stasi monitoring list for responding “back at you” to a West German resident who said her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I was told stories including these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a large part of his professional career developing it. Residents were polled in the initial phases about how much barrier they desired to keep. They opted for a stretch on the west edge, close to where one of their own was able to escape in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, following which the boundary was significantly fortified.

Maintained Structures

Two guard towers are conserved together with a collection of exhibits depicting the most impactful events in the hamlet’s past. As we stroll, the director details the restrictions: not a single person could come within 5km of the frontier. Farmers required specific authorization to tend to their fields; the spouse could operate the harvesting machine but not the two, for fear that they attempted to escape. Soldiers stood watch.

Wider Background

The frontier between Western Germany and the East Germany ran 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the north to here in the south. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most frequently, but in excess of double the number individuals (exceeding 300) were killed seeking to cross it in rural areas than in the urban center. the director informs me that 95% of efforts to cross failed.

Hamlet Existence

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or artisans, who adjusted to living in the uncertain territory between a pair of political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their fields. They did not backed the socialist government nor resisted it, Lebegern explains.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the settlement became a kind of site of interest. About fifteen thousand came to see annually, binoculars in hand, to look – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after reunification, Tannbach, a TV series about a imaginary community resembling Mödlareuth, led to new attention.

Present-Day Developments

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, shop, cinema room and large vehicle area – is probable to