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A creek so low you scarcely got your ankles wet split a community for over four decades worth of time. By an accident of geography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by coniferous woods, meadows and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to span the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a border that was marked first by a barrier and then by a wall. American soldiers called it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

Several months after their own barrier was torn down, and even before their state had unified again in 1990, a collection of villagers began documenting their heritage. The effort is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was publicly launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite finished. Addressing the residents who endured the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which ripped households asunder and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an inhuman division, which tore households into pieces and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Past Background

Starting at its creation in 1810, the village spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most famous for bestowing all its male descendants the title Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier told the crowd, the peculiarity did not stand in the path of the residents drinking in the very same inn, going to the same church and sending their kids to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Separation

Subsequently occurred the World War II. Immediately after they came, the Russian troops put up timber poles by the creek. For a year they occupied the complete hamlet, setting up their control center in a building on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The US forces convinced them to retreat across the stream. For a while, villagers could still hop over, though as controls increased they were required to display ID, even though all understood who they were, and to come back at evening.

Escalation of Border Controls

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was constructed, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The villagers could still view each other by ascending slopes, but on the east side signaling and shouting were prohibited. A local woman was placed on a Stasi monitoring list for answering “back at you” to a western resident who said her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

It was related to me stories like these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has devoted a significant portion of his working life developing it. Locals were polled at an early stage about how how long a section barrier they wished to preserve. They selected a stretch on the Bavarian perimeter, adjacent to where a villager was able to flee in the darkest hours with a ladder, after which the boundary was heavily strengthened.

Conserved Buildings

Two observation towers are maintained in addition to a set of exhibits showing the most significant dates in the community’s past. As we move, Robert Lebegern details the regulations: not a single person could approach 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers had to obtain special permission to look after their crops; the husband or wife could use the harvesting machine but not the pair, in case they tried to make a run for it. Military personnel stood watch.

Broader Context

The border between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic extended 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south in the south. Berlin is recalled and honored the greatest, but over twice as many persons (well over 300) lost their lives trying to traverse it in rural areas than in the big city. the director reminds me that 95 percent of escape attempts failed.

Hamlet Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or craftsmen, who adapted to living in the grey zone between 2 ideological spheres by avoiding attention and caring for their fields. They did not endorsed the communist regime nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a type of pilgrimage. Roughly 15k came to visit annually, binoculars in their hands, to look – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the TV show, a broadcast production about a made-up community like Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed interest.

Present-Day Evolutions

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