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A creek so low you barely got your ankles wet divided a community for more than four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by coniferous woods, pastures and spectacular views, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the misfortune to cross the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a partition. US troops called it Little Berlin.

Commemorating History

Months after their own wall was torn down, and prior to their state had unified again in 1990, a collection of villagers began documenting their heritage. The project is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally inaugurated by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show was not entirely finished. Telling the villagers who endured the former times, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an brutal split, which tore households apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an cruel separation, which pulled families apart and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

Bygone Origins

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the village spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage best known for giving all its men the name Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier told the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the way of the residents socializing in the same tavern, visiting the identical place of worship and sending their young ones to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Division

Then came the second world war. Immediately after they appeared, the Russian troops installed timber poles by the creek. For a twelve months they occupied the entire village, establishing their command in a building on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The US forces convinced them to withdraw to the other side of the stream. For a period, locals could still jump across, though as limitations increased they were obliged to display identity papers, although each person knew who they were, and to return at after dark.

Intensification of Frontier Measures

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was erected, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The residents could continue to see each other by scaling elevations, but on the eastern side signaling and yelling were banned. A female resident was added to a GDR intelligence surveillance list for answering “likewise” to a West German local who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

I heard stories including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a large part of his working life creating it. Residents were asked early on about how how long a section structure they wished to maintain. They chose a section on the Bavarian perimeter, close to where a local resident managed to escape in the middle of the night with a climbing device, following which the border was significantly strengthened.

Preserved Installations

A pair of watchtowers are conserved together with a set of tableaux depicting the most impactful dates in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we stroll, Lebergen enumerates the rules: nobody could approach 5km of the frontier. Rural residents needed special permission to tend to their fields; the partner could use the agricultural equipment but never both, lest they sought to flee. Armed guards kept guard.

Larger Perspective

The boundary between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the most, but in excess of twice as many individuals (more than 300) lost their lives trying to traverse it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95% of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Village Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were rural laborers or artisans, who adjusted to residing in the ambiguous area between 2 political systems by avoiding attention and caring for their farms. They nor did they backed the East German authorities nor opposed it, the director explains.

Interest

For visitors, however, the village became a sort of site of interest. About 15,000 came to see annually, binoculars in possession, to stare – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after unification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a fictional village similar to Mödlareuth, led to fresh attention.

Current Developments

The opening of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, boutique, film screening area and big vehicle area – is expected to