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An creek so low you hardly got your ankles wet divided a village for more than four decades of time. Due to a quirk of topography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by evergreen groves, fields and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to span the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a boundary that was established first by a barrier and then by a partition. US troops nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Memorialising the Past

Months after their own barrier was opened, and prior to their country had become one in 1990, a group of local people began memorialising their heritage. The work is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display wasn’t quite finished. Telling the locals who endured the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an cruel separation, which pulled families apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an cruel separation, which pulled families apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Bygone Context

Even at its creation in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for giving all its men the name Heinrich and labeling them in order by birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the peculiarity never stood in the manner of the inhabitants gathering in the very same tavern, visiting the identical religious building and sending their children to the very same learning center.

After the War Separation

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. Immediately after they arrived, the Soviet forces installed timber poles by the brook. For a annual period they took over the complete community, establishing their control center in a building on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers convinced them to withdraw back over the brook. For a while, residents could still jump across, though as restrictions tightened they were forced to show identity papers, even though all was aware who they were, and to come back at evening.

Escalation of Border Measures

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was erected, with explosives, tank traps and guard posts. The locals could still see each other by climbing slopes, but on the eastern side signaling and yelling were prohibited. A female resident was added to a East German secret police monitoring list for replying “same to you” to a western local who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Exhibition Center Establishment

It was related to me accounts such as these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated much of his working life building it. Villagers were asked early on about how much barrier they desired to keep. They chose a stretch on the Bavarian perimeter, near where one of their own managed to flee in the middle of the night with a climbing device, following which the border was significantly reinforced.

Preserved Structures

2 watchtowers are conserved alongside a series of exhibits depicting the most dramatic moments in the hamlet’s past. As we walk, Robert Lebegern lists the rules: not a single person could approach 5km of the boundary. Farmers required particular approval to care for their produce; the spouse could use the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the pair, for fear that they tried to flee. Military personnel were on duty.

Wider Background

The frontier between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and honored the most frequently, but in excess of double the number people (more than 300) lost their lives attempting to traverse it in rural areas than in the urban center. the director informs me that almost all of escape attempts did not succeed.

Community Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were rural laborers or artisans, who adjusted to dwelling in the uncertain territory between 2 ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and looking after their land. They did not supported the socialist government nor fought it, the director clarifies.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the village became a type of pilgrimage. About 15,000 visited every year, viewing tools in possession, to stare – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty five years after reunification, the television series, a television program about a fictional hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, led to fresh curiosity.

Present-Day Developments

The opening of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, boutique, movie theater and big vehicle area – is probable to