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A creek so narrow you scarcely got your feet wet divided a village for more than four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by coniferous woods, meadows and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the bad luck to span the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a border that was established first by a barrier and then by a wall. United States military personnel nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Preserving History

A few months after their own barrier was opened, and before their country had reunified in 1990, a collection of villagers began memorialising their heritage. The effort is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was publicly opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition was not completely prepared. Telling the villagers who experienced the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which tore households into pieces and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which tore families apart and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Past Origins

Even at its creation in 1810, the village straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family best known for assigning all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the quirk never stood in the way of the residents socializing in the same pub, visiting the identical church and sending their kids to the same learning center.

After the War Split

Then came the global conflict. The moment they appeared, the Russian troops put up wood stakes by the stream. For a annual period they occupied the complete village, establishing their command in a house on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The US forces urged them to retreat to the other side of the creek. For a time, residents could still cross over, though as controls became stricter they were forced to display identity papers, although each person was aware who they were, and to go back at evening.

Intensification of Boundary Controls

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was erected, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and guard posts. The locals could still observe each other by climbing slopes, but on the Soviet side waving and shouting were prohibited. A female resident was put on a East German secret police surveillance list for responding “likewise” to a Bavarian local who wished her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I was told stories such as these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated a large part of his working life creating it. Residents were asked in the initial phases about how what length of barrier they wanted to keep. They opted for a stretch on the Bavarian fringe, adjacent to where a local resident succeeded to get away in the darkest hours with a climbing device, after which the border was substantially strengthened.

Preserved Buildings

A pair of observation towers are preserved in addition to a series of exhibits depicting the most impactful events in the community’s past. As we walk, the director enumerates the restrictions: no one could come within 5km of the border. Rural residents had to obtain particular approval to care for their crops; the husband or wife could work the harvesting machine but not the two, in case they tried to flee. Armed guards were on duty.

Wider Context

The border between West Germany and the East Germany ran 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the greatest, but more than two times more persons (well over 300) were killed trying to traverse it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. the director informs me that almost all of efforts to cross did not succeed.

Hamlet Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or craftsmen, who adapted to residing in the uncertain territory between 2 ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and tending to their fields. They nor did they backed the East German authorities nor opposed it, the director states.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the village became a kind of destination. Approximately 15k visited each year, binoculars in possession, to stare – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defense official.

25 years after reunification, the TV show, a TV series about a fictional community similar to Mödlareuth, caused fresh curiosity.

Present-Day Changes

The launch of the new museum – with a cafe, shop, film screening area and big parking lot – is expected to