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An brook so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet split a settlement for more than four decades of time. Because of a chance of landscape, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by pine forests, fields and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a border that was marked first by a barrier and then by a wall. United States military personnel called it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

A few months after their own wall was opened, and before their country had become one in 1990, a collection of villagers set about documenting their past. The project is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not completely prepared. Addressing the villagers who endured the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an inhuman separation, which tore households apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which tore families asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Bygone Context

Right from its founding in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for bestowing all its male members the title Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the quirk never stood in the manner of the inhabitants gathering in the same inn, attending the very same church and sending their young ones to the identical educational institution.

Post-War Separation

Next arrived the World War II. Immediately after they arrived, the Soviet forces installed wooden posts by the brook. For a year they seized the whole village, creating their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces persuaded them to withdraw to the other side of the creek. For a period, residents could continue to hop over, though as limitations became stricter they were obliged to present ID, despite the fact that everyone was aware who they were, and to return at after dark.

Escalation of Boundary Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was built, with explosives, tank traps and observation points. The residents could still observe each other by ascending elevations, but on the Soviet side waving and shouting were banned. A local woman was placed on a East German secret police surveillance list for responding “same to you” to a western resident who said her “good new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

I heard stories including these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated a significant portion of his working life developing it. Residents were asked early on about how how long a section structure they wanted to maintain. They selected a section on the west edge, near where a villager was able to get away in the middle of the night with a climbing device, following which the border was substantially reinforced.

Preserved Installations

Two guard towers are maintained alongside a set of tableaux depicting the most significant dates in the hamlet’s history. As we move, Robert Lebegern lists the restrictions: no one could come within 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers had to obtain specific authorization to care for their fields; the partner could operate the harvesting machine but never both, for fear that they tried to flee. Armed guards were on duty.

Wider Perspective

The border between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic stretched 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and documented the greatest, but more than twice as many individuals (exceeding 300) were killed seeking to cross it in countryside regions than in the big city. the director tells me that 95 percent of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Village Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or artisans, who accommodated to residing in the uncertain territory between 2 belief systems by staying low-profile and tending to their fields. They did not backed the communist regime nor resisted it, Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the settlement became a type of pilgrimage. Roughly 15k came to visit every year, binoculars in their hands, to gawp – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

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

Modern Evolutions

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