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An creek so shallow you hardly got your ankles wet separated a community for in excess of four decades. By an accident of geography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by coniferous woods, meadows and stunning scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a frontier that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a barricade. United States military personnel dubbed it Little Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

Several months after their own wall was torn down, and prior to their country had reunified in 1990, a collection of villagers began commemorating their history. The project is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was publicly inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display was not entirely ready. Speaking to the villagers who experienced the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which pulled relatives asunder and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which ripped relatives apart and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Historical Background

Even at its establishment in 1810, the village cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a princely house most renowned for giving all its male descendants the title Heinrich and numbering them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the quirk did not stand in the manner of the inhabitants socializing in the identical pub, attending the identical church and placing their kids to the identical learning center.

Post-War Split

Next arrived the second world war. Immediately after they appeared, the Soviet forces installed wood stakes by the brook. For a year they seized the complete community, creating their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers convinced them to pull back across the brook. For a time, residents could still cross over, though as limitations increased they were required to present ID, even though everyone was aware who they were, and to go back at night.

Intensification of Frontier Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was erected, with mines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The residents could still observe each other by scaling hills, but on the east side signaling and calling out were prohibited. A female resident was placed on a Stasi watch list for answering “same to you” to a western villager who wished her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

I was told accounts like these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has devoted a large part of his professional career creating it. Locals were consulted in the initial phases about how much barrier they wished to preserve. They selected a stretch on the western perimeter, adjacent to where one of their own succeeded to get away in the darkest hours with a climbing device, following which the boundary was significantly strengthened.

Conserved Buildings

2 watchtowers are conserved alongside a set of displays showing the most impactful events in the hamlet’s past. As we move, the director details the restrictions: not a single person could come within 5km of the border. Farmers required particular approval to look after their crops; the husband or wife could operate the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances both, lest they attempted to escape. Soldiers stood watch.

Broader Background

The frontier between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the north to this location in the south. Berlin is remembered and honored the most frequently, but in excess of double the number persons (well over 300) died trying to traverse it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95% of efforts to cross were unsuccessful.

Village Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or artisans, who adapted to dwelling in the uncertain territory between 2 political systems by avoiding attention and caring for their land. They neither endorsed the socialist government nor fought it, Lebegern clarifies.

Interest

For visitors, however, the settlement became a type of site of interest. Roughly 15k visited every year, binoculars in their hands, to look – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

Twenty five years after reunification, the TV show, a TV series about a made-up community similar to Mödlareuth, caused renewed interest.

Present-Day Changes

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, boutique, film screening area and big vehicle area – is likely to