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A stream so low you barely got your feet wet divided a settlement for over four decades. Because of a chance of landscape, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by evergreen groves, meadows and stunning views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a wall. American soldiers dubbed it Little Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Months after their own wall was torn down, and even before their state had unified again in 1990, a collection of villagers set about commemorating their history. The project is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally inaugurated by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite ready. Addressing the locals who endured the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which tore households asunder and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were observers of an cruel division, which ripped families asunder and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Past Background

Even at its founding in 1810, the community cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for giving all its men the designation Heinrich and labeling them in order by birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the quirk never stood in the way of the locals gathering in the same tavern, visiting the very same church and enrolling their children to the identical learning center.

Following WWII Split

Next arrived the second world war. Immediately after they arrived, the Russians put up timber poles by the creek. For a annual period they seized the entire village, setting up their control center in a building on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The Americans convinced them to withdraw to the other side of the stream. For a time, residents could still jump across, though as controls increased they were obliged to display ID, although each person was aware who they were, and to return at evening.

Increase of Boundary Measures

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was built, with explosives, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The locals could continue to see each other by scaling hills, but on the east side gesturing and calling out were forbidden. One woman was added to a GDR intelligence watch list for replying “likewise” to a West German local who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

It was related to me accounts like these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted a significant portion of his professional career creating it. Villagers were asked in the initial phases about how how long a section barrier they desired to preserve. They opted for a stretch on the Bavarian fringe, near where a local resident managed to escape in the middle of the night with a climbing device, subsequently the border was substantially reinforced.

Maintained Buildings

Two watchtowers are conserved alongside a collection of displays illustrating the most impactful dates in the village’s history. As we move, Robert Lebegern lists the rules: no one could come within 5km of the border. Agricultural workers needed particular approval to care for their produce; the spouse could work the agricultural equipment but never the pair, in case they attempted to escape. Soldiers kept guard.

Wider Background

The boundary between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic extended 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and documented the most frequently, but more than twice as many individuals (exceeding 300) were killed attempting to pass over it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Lebegern tells me that 95 percent of escape attempts failed.

Village Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or artisans, who adapted to living in the grey zone between 2 belief systems by avoiding attention and tending to their farms. They nor did they supported the socialist government nor fought it, Robert Lebegern states.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the village became a type of pilgrimage. About 15k came to see annually, viewing tools in possession, to look – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after reunification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a fictional community similar to Mödlareuth, caused new attention.

Current Evolutions

The inauguration of the new museum – with a coffee shop, shop, cinema room and large vehicle area – is expected to