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A brook so narrow you scarcely got your feet wet separated a village for over four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by pine forests, meadows and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to cross Bavaria, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a partition. American soldiers nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Several months after their own barrier was opened, and before their nation had reunified in 1990, a collection of residents started documenting their history. The project is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the display was not entirely finished. Speaking to the villagers who endured the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which ripped relatives apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which pulled relatives apart and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Past Context

Even at its creation in 1810, the community spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for giving all its men the title Heinrich and counting them in order by birth. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the oddity did not stand in the manner of the inhabitants drinking in the same inn, visiting the identical church and placing their young ones to the very same school.

Post-War Division

Then came the global conflict. As soon as they appeared, the Russians erected wooden posts by the stream. For a twelve months they occupied the whole community, establishing their command in a dwelling on the western side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces persuaded them to retreat to the other side of the stream. For a period, residents could still jump across, though as limitations tightened they were obliged to display identification, although each person was aware who they were, and to go back at evening.

Increase of Boundary Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was built, with mines, tank traps and watchtowers. The locals could still view each other by ascending slopes, but on the east side waving and calling out were forbidden. One woman was put on a East German secret police watch list for replying “same to you” to a Bavarian villager who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Exhibition Center Creation

It was related to me narratives including these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent much of his working life building it. Locals were asked in the initial phases about how much barrier they wished to preserve. They chose a portion on the west edge, near where a villager was able to get away in the darkest hours with a ladder, subsequently the border was substantially reinforced.

Maintained Installations

Two observation towers are preserved together with a series of tableaux depicting the most significant moments in the village’s past. As we walk, Lebergen details the rules: nobody could come within 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain particular approval to look after their fields; the husband or wife could use the combine harvester but never the pair, in case they sought to escape. Armed guards stood watch.

Wider Context

The border between the Federal Republic and the GDR stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the north to this location in the south. Berlin is recalled and documented the greatest, but more than twice as many persons (exceeding 300) died attempting to traverse it in rural areas than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95 percent of escape attempts failed.

Hamlet Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who adjusted to residing in the uncertain territory between two ideological spheres by staying low-profile and tending to their land. They neither endorsed the East German authorities nor resisted it, Lebegern states.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the hamlet became a type of site of interest. About 15,000 came to visit every year, viewing tools in hand, to look – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after merger, the television series, a TV series about a imaginary community resembling Mödlareuth, led to new interest.

Modern Developments

The inauguration of the new museum – with a restaurant, boutique, cinema room and big parking lot – is likely to