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A brook so low you barely got your feet wet divided a settlement for more than four decades of time. Because of a chance of topography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by evergreen groves, meadows and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the misfortune to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was marked first by a fence and then by a wall. United States military personnel nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Preserving the Past

Several months after their own barrier was torn down, and even before their state had become one in 1990, a collection of local people started commemorating their history. The work is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show wasn’t quite prepared. Speaking to the villagers who lived through the former times, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which pulled relatives asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were observers of an cruel division, which tore families apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Historical Context

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the community straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most famous for bestowing all its male descendants the title Heinrich and counting them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the way of the inhabitants socializing in the same pub, going to the identical religious building and enrolling their kids to the very same learning center.

Following WWII Division

Subsequently occurred the second world war. Immediately after they came, the Soviet forces put up wooden posts by the stream. For a year they occupied the entire hamlet, creating their control center in a dwelling on the western side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The US forces persuaded them to retreat to the other side of the stream. For a time, villagers could continue to hop over, though as restrictions tightened they were required to display identification, although everyone understood who they were, and to return at night.

Intensification of Frontier Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was erected, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The villagers could still see each other by scaling hills, but on the eastern side signaling and calling out were banned. A female resident was put on a Stasi surveillance list for replying “same to you” to a West German villager who greeted her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Development

It was related to me stories such as these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated much of his working life building it. Villagers were polled at an early stage about how what length of barrier they desired to maintain. They selected a portion on the Bavarian perimeter, near where a villager succeeded to escape in the dead of night with a climbing device, after which the border was significantly fortified.

Preserved Structures

2 observation towers are preserved alongside a set of tableaux depicting the most dramatic events in the village’s past. As we walk, the director details the regulations: no one could come within 5km of the boundary. Rural residents had to obtain special permission to tend to their produce; the husband or wife could use the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances the two, for fear that they tried to flee. Armed guards kept guard.

Broader Perspective

The border between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic extended 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and documented the most, but in excess of double the number persons (exceeding 300) were killed seeking to pass over it in rural areas than in the big city. Robert Lebegern informs me that almost all of efforts to cross were unsuccessful.

Village Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who accommodated to living in the uncertain territory between a pair of political systems by keeping their heads down and tending to their farms. They nor did they backed the East German authorities nor fought it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Interest

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a type of destination. Approximately 15k came to visit every year, viewing tools in their hands, to stare – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after merger, the TV show, a TV series about a imaginary hamlet similar to Mödlareuth, caused fresh interest.

Modern Developments

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, boutique, cinema room and large parking lot – is likely to