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A creek so narrow you scarcely got your feet wet divided a settlement for over four decades. Due to a quirk of geography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by pine forests, meadows and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a frontier that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a wall. United States military personnel nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Memorialising History

Several months after their own wall was breached, and prior to their country had unified again in 1990, a group of villagers set about documenting their history. The project is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the fall of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not completely prepared. Speaking to the residents who lived through the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an cruel split, which ripped families apart and turned neighbours into strangers.”

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

Past Origins

Starting at its creation in 1810, the community spanned the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage best known for assigning all its male members the title Heinrich and labeling them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the peculiarity never stood in the way of the inhabitants drinking in the very same tavern, visiting the very same religious building and sending their young ones to the same school.

After the War Separation

Subsequently occurred the World War II. As soon as they appeared, the Russian troops installed wood stakes by the stream. For a twelve months they took over the complete village, establishing their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers persuaded them to withdraw to the other side of the creek. For a while, locals could continue to cross over, though as limitations became stricter they were obliged to present ID, although everyone knew who they were, and to come back at night.

Intensification of Border Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was built, with explosives, tank traps and watchtowers. The residents could continue to observe each other by ascending slopes, but on the eastern side gesturing and yelling were prohibited. A local woman was added to a Stasi watch list for answering “likewise” to a western resident who said her “prosperous new year”.

Exhibition Center Creation

I was told narratives including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated a significant portion of his professional career developing it. Villagers were polled early on about how much structure they wished to keep. They chose a section on the western edge, adjacent to where a local resident managed to get away in the darkest hours with a climbing device, after which the border was substantially strengthened.

Conserved Structures

2 observation towers are conserved in addition to a set of displays illustrating the most significant events in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we stroll, the director enumerates the rules: not a single person could come within 5km of the border. Rural residents required specific authorization to care for their fields; the spouse could work the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances the pair, for fear that they sought to flee. Armed guards kept guard.

Larger Background

The boundary between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and documented the most frequently, but more than twice as many people (more than 300) died seeking to traverse it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95 percent of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Village Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or artisans, who adjusted to living in the grey zone between two ideological spheres by staying low-profile and looking after their land. They did not backed the communist regime nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern states.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a type of site of interest. About 15k came to visit each year, viewing tools in possession, to gawp – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

25 years after reunification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a imaginary village like Mödlareuth, caused renewed curiosity.

Modern Developments

The launch of the recently established museum – with a cafe, boutique, film screening area and sizable parking lot – is probable to