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A stream so low you scarcely got your ankles wet separated a community for in excess of four decades of time. Because of a chance of topography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement encircled by evergreen groves, fields and stunning vistas, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the bad luck to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a border that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a wall. American soldiers dubbed it Small Berlin.

Memorialising History

A few months after their own barrier was breached, and before their state had become one in 1990, a collection of local people set about memorialising their heritage. The work is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the display was not completely ready. Addressing the locals who endured the former times, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an cruel division, which pulled families apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were observers of an inhuman split, which ripped families asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Past Background

Right from its establishment in 1810, the community spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for assigning all its men the designation Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the manner of the residents gathering in the identical pub, going to the identical church and sending their children to the very same learning center.

Following WWII Separation

Then came the second world war. Immediately after they appeared, the Russian troops installed timber poles by the stream. For a twelve months they took over the complete village, establishing their control center in a building on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces persuaded them to pull back back over the brook. For a while, residents could still hop over, though as controls tightened they were forced to show identification, even though all was aware who they were, and to return at after dark.

Intensification of Boundary Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was constructed, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The villagers could still see each other by climbing elevations, but on the east side waving and yelling were forbidden. A local woman was added to a Stasi monitoring list for answering “same to you” to a West German resident who said her “happy new year”.

Museum Development

I heard stories like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a significant portion of his occupational time developing it. Locals were consulted in the initial phases about how what length of structure they wished to preserve. They chose a portion on the Bavarian fringe, near where a local resident succeeded to flee in the darkest hours with a ladder, after which the frontier was substantially strengthened.

Maintained Structures

A pair of watchtowers are preserved together with a series of tableaux depicting the most significant moments in the community’s past. As we stroll, Lebergen lists the restrictions: no one could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers required specific authorization to tend to their produce; the partner could use the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the pair, in case they attempted to escape. Soldiers were on duty.

Wider Background

The boundary between Western Germany and the East Germany ran 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the north to the south in the south. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the most, but over twice as many persons (well over 300) were killed seeking to pass over it in provincial zones than in the big city. the director tells me that 95% of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Hamlet Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were agricultural workers or craftsmen, who adapted to residing in the ambiguous area between two belief systems by keeping their heads down and caring for their land. They nor did they supported the East German authorities nor fought it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a sort of destination. Roughly 15k visited each year, optical devices in hand, to stare – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty five years after reunification, Tannbach, a TV series about a fictional community resembling Mödlareuth, led to renewed curiosity.

Current Changes

The opening of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, store, film screening area and big parking lot – is likely to