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An stream so narrow you hardly got your feet wet separated a village for more than four decades. By an accident of topography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by evergreen groves, meadows and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the center of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to span the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a border that was marked first by a fence and then by a barricade. American soldiers dubbed it Small Berlin.

Preserving the Past

Several months after their own division was breached, and prior to their state had become one in 1990, a assembly of villagers set about commemorating their past. The effort is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the collapse of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not entirely ready. Telling the locals who experienced the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which pulled relatives asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman division, which pulled households apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Past Context

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for bestowing all its male descendants the name Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by birth. As Steinmeier told the crowd, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the locals drinking in the same inn, attending the same religious building and placing their children to the very same school.

After the War Division

Next arrived the World War II. As soon as they arrived, the Soviet forces installed wood stakes by the stream. For a twelve months they seized the complete hamlet, setting up their headquarters in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers urged them to withdraw to the other side of the stream. For a time, residents could still hop over, though as controls increased they were obliged to show identification, despite the fact that all was aware who they were, and to return at evening.

Escalation of Frontier Controls

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was built, with explosives, tank traps and observation points. The locals could still see each other by climbing hills, but on the east side signaling and calling out were prohibited. A local woman was put on a GDR intelligence watch list for replying “same to you” to a West German local who wished her “good new year”.

Exhibition Center Creation

It was related to me narratives including these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated a large part of his professional career creating it. Residents were asked at an early stage about how much barrier they desired to keep. They opted for a portion on the Bavarian fringe, close to where a villager managed to escape in the middle of the night with a climbing device, following which the border was heavily fortified.

Preserved Structures

A pair of watchtowers are conserved together with a collection of exhibits depicting the most impactful moments in the community’s history. As we stroll, the director enumerates the regulations: no one could come within 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers needed particular approval to care for their fields; the partner could use the agricultural equipment but not the pair, for fear that they tried to escape. Military personnel kept guard.

Broader Background

The boundary between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched 1,400km, from the northern sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is recalled and honored the most frequently, but over double the number people (more than 300) were killed attempting to pass over it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. Lebegern reminds me that 95 percent of attempts to flee failed.

Community Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were rural laborers or skilled workers, who adapted to living in the grey zone between 2 political systems by avoiding attention and caring for their fields. They neither endorsed the socialist government nor opposed it, the director explains.

Interest

For tourists, however, the settlement became a kind of destination. Roughly 15k came to visit annually, viewing tools in their hands, to gawp – and then rapidly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

25 years after unification, the television series, a television program about a made-up village like Mödlareuth, led to fresh curiosity.

Current Changes

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, store, movie theater and big vehicle area – is probable to