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A stream so low you barely got your ankles wet separated a settlement for in excess of four decades. By an accident of topography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by evergreen groves, meadows and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a border that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a barricade. US troops nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Several months after their own division was torn down, and before their country had become one in 1990, a group of residents began documenting their past. The effort is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the demolition of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not completely ready. Addressing the residents who endured the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an inhuman division, which ripped households asunder and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an cruel separation, which tore families apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

Past Context

Even at its founding in 1810, the community spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for giving all its male members the name Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the quirk never stood in the way of the residents drinking in the same tavern, visiting the very same religious building and placing their kids to the very same school.

Post-War Division

Subsequently occurred the second world war. As soon as they appeared, the Russians erected wood stakes by the stream. For a year they occupied the whole community, establishing their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces convinced them to pull back back over the brook. For a time, villagers could still hop over, though as controls tightened they were obliged to display identity papers, although each person was aware who they were, and to come back at evening.

Increase of Frontier Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was constructed, with explosives, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The locals could continue to observe each other by ascending elevations, but on the Soviet side waving and calling out were prohibited. A local woman was added to a GDR intelligence surveillance list for answering “same to you” to a West German villager who greeted her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

It was related to me narratives such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated much of his professional career building it. Villagers were asked in the initial phases about how much barrier they wished to preserve. They opted for a stretch on the Bavarian fringe, close to where one of their own succeeded to flee in the dead of night with a climbing device, following which the frontier was significantly fortified.

Preserved Installations

Two observation towers are conserved in addition to a collection of exhibits showing the most dramatic events in the village’s chronicle. As we move, Robert Lebegern details the rules: not a single person could come within 5km of the frontier. Farmers had to obtain particular approval to look after their fields; the spouse could operate the harvesting machine but never the pair, for fear that they attempted to escape. Soldiers stood watch.

Wider Context

The border between the Federal Republic and the GDR ran 1,400km, from the northern sea in the north to this location in the south. Berlin is recalled and honored the greatest, but more than twice as many people (more than 300) lost their lives trying to pass over it in rural areas than in the big city. Robert Lebegern reminds me that almost all of escape attempts did not succeed.

Hamlet Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or artisans, who adapted to living in the uncertain territory between 2 belief systems by staying low-profile and caring for their land. They did not backed the socialist government nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Interest

For visitors, however, the settlement became a sort of destination. Roughly 15,000 came to visit each year, viewing tools in their hands, to gawp – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

25 years after merger, Tannbach, a TV series about a made-up community similar to Mödlareuth, led to renewed attention.

Present-Day Evolutions

The opening of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, store, film screening area and large car park – is probable to