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A creek so narrow you barely got your ankles wet split a village for more than four decades of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by pine forests, pastures and stunning views, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the bad luck to straddle the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a border that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a partition. US troops dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Memorialising the Past

Months after their own division was breached, and before their nation had reunified in 1990, a group of local people began documenting their past. The project is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the fall of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display was not entirely prepared. Speaking to the locals who endured the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were observers of an brutal separation, which tore families apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which ripped relatives asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Bygone Background

Right from its creation in 1810, the village spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house best known for bestowing all its men the designation Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the oddity did not stand in the manner of the inhabitants socializing in the same tavern, visiting the identical place of worship and sending their young ones to the identical educational institution.

Post-War Split

Then came the global conflict. Immediately after they appeared, the Soviet forces erected timber poles by the brook. For a twelve months they took over the complete community, creating their control center in a house on the western side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The Americans persuaded them to withdraw back over the creek. For a period, villagers could continue to cross over, though as restrictions became stricter they were obliged to display identification, despite the fact that all was aware who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Intensification of Frontier Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was built, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and guard posts. The locals could continue to observe each other by climbing elevations, but on the Soviet side waving and shouting were forbidden. A female resident was put on a Stasi surveillance list for responding “back at you” to a Bavarian local who greeted her “good new year”.

Museum Development

I heard narratives like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent a large part of his occupational time building it. Villagers were consulted in the initial phases about how what length of barrier they wished to maintain. They opted for a stretch on the western edge, near where a villager succeeded to escape in the darkest hours with a climbing device, subsequently the border was substantially fortified.

Maintained Structures

2 watchtowers are preserved in addition to a set of displays depicting the most impactful events in the hamlet’s history. As we walk, the director lists the regulations: nobody could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers had to obtain specific authorization to tend to their fields; the partner could use the combine harvester but not the two, for fear that they tried to make a run for it. Armed guards kept guard.

Broader Background

The frontier between Western Germany and the GDR ran 1,400km, from the northern sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most, but in excess of double the number people (more than 300) lost their lives attempting to cross it in provincial zones than in the big city. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95% of escape attempts did not succeed.

Village Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or artisans, who adapted to residing in the uncertain territory between two belief systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their land. They nor did they endorsed the East German authorities nor opposed it, Lebegern clarifies.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a kind of site of interest. About 15,000 came to see each year, viewing tools in hand, to stare – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after unification, the TV show, a TV series about a made-up village like Mödlareuth, led to renewed attention.

Modern Developments

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, shop, movie theater and sizable car park – is expected to