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A stream so low you barely got your feet wet split a settlement for over four decades of time. By an accident of geography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by pine forests, meadows and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to straddle the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a border that was marked first by a fence and then by a wall. American soldiers called it Little Berlin.

Commemorating History

Months after their own wall was opened, and before their nation had become one in 1990, a group of villagers started memorialising their past. The work is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the collapse of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not completely ready. Addressing the residents who lived through the past era, Steinmeier remarked: “You were bystanders of an brutal division, which ripped families into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel division, which pulled relatives asunder and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Historical Origins

Even at its establishment in 1810, the community cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for assigning all its male members the name Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the way of the locals drinking in the very same inn, going to the same church and placing their kids to the same learning center.

Following WWII Division

Then came the global conflict. The moment they came, the Russian troops installed wooden posts by the creek. For a annual period they took over the entire village, establishing their control center in a building on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers convinced them to withdraw to the other side of the stream. For a while, villagers could continue to hop over, though as restrictions increased they were forced to present identification, although each person knew who they were, and to come back at night.

Escalation of Boundary Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was erected, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The residents could continue to see each other by climbing elevations, but on the east side waving and shouting were prohibited. One woman was added to a East German secret police watch list for replying “back at you” to a Bavarian villager who wished her “happy new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

It was related to me stories including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has devoted much of his occupational time building it. Residents were polled in the initial phases about how what length of wall they wanted to maintain. They selected a stretch on the west edge, near where a local resident succeeded to get away in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, subsequently the frontier was substantially strengthened.

Preserved Installations

A pair of observation towers are maintained together with a collection of exhibits showing the most impactful moments in the hamlet’s past. As we move, the director enumerates the rules: not a single person could come within 5km of the border. Farmers needed particular approval to look after their crops; the husband or wife could use the combine harvester but under no circumstances the two, lest they attempted to make a run for it. Soldiers were on duty.

Larger Context

The border between the Federal Republic and the East Germany ran nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and documented the most, but more than two times more individuals (more than 300) were killed seeking to cross it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95 percent of attempts to flee failed.

Village Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or craftsmen, who accommodated to living in the uncertain territory between two political systems by avoiding attention and looking after their fields. They nor did they endorsed the communist regime nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Interest

For visitors, however, the village became a sort of pilgrimage. Approximately 15k came to visit every year, binoculars in hand, to stare – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after reunification, the television series, a TV series about a fictional hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, led to fresh interest.

Present-Day Evolutions

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, store, movie theater and sizable parking lot – is probable to