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An brook so shallow you hardly got your feet wet separated a village for more than four decades worth of time. Because of a chance of geography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by coniferous woods, pastures and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was established first by a fence and then by a wall. United States military personnel nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Commemorating History

A few months after their own division was torn down, and even before their state had unified again in 1990, a collection of local people set about commemorating their heritage. The project is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the collapse of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was publicly inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not completely ready. Telling the villagers who experienced the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an brutal division, which ripped households apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman division, which tore families asunder and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Past Background

Right from its creation in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage best known for assigning all its men the name Heinrich and counting them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the peculiarity did not stand in the path of the locals gathering in the same tavern, going to the identical church and placing their children to the very same school.

Post-War Separation

Then came the World War II. The moment they came, the Soviet forces put up wood stakes by the stream. For a annual period they seized the complete community, creating their control center in a building on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The US forces urged them to retreat across the brook. For a period, locals could continue to jump across, though as controls increased they were required to show identity papers, despite the fact that all knew who they were, and to come back at evening.

Intensification of Boundary Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was built, with landmines, tank traps and observation points. The residents could still see each other by scaling hills, but on the east side waving and yelling were banned. A female resident was put on a Stasi surveillance list for responding “same to you” to a West German villager who wished her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I heard accounts like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a significant portion of his working life developing it. Villagers were asked early on about how much wall they desired to maintain. They chose a portion on the western fringe, near where a local resident succeeded to escape in the darkest hours with a climbing device, subsequently the border was significantly strengthened.

Maintained Structures

Two observation towers are maintained together with a collection of tableaux showing the most impactful events in the hamlet’s history. As we move, Robert Lebegern enumerates the rules: not a single person could come within 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers had to obtain specific authorization to care for their fields; the spouse could work the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the pair, in case they attempted to flee. Soldiers were on duty.

Wider Background

The frontier between the Federal Republic 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 memorialised the most frequently, but more than two times more people (exceeding 300) died seeking to pass over it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95% of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Community Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were agricultural workers or skilled workers, who adjusted to residing in the uncertain territory between 2 ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and caring for their land. They did not endorsed the East German authorities nor fought it, the director explains.

Interest

For tourists, however, the village became a kind of site of interest. Roughly fifteen thousand visited annually, binoculars in possession, to gawp – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the television series, a television program about a imaginary hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, caused renewed curiosity.

Modern Developments

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a cafe, shop, film screening area and sizable vehicle area – is probable to