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An stream so narrow you hardly got your ankles wet separated a community for over four decades of time. By an accident of geography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by pine forests, fields and spectacular views, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the misfortune to span the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a border that was established first by a fence and then by a wall. American soldiers called it Small Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

A few months after their own division was torn down, and even before their state had unified again in 1990, a assembly of local people started memorialising their heritage. The effort is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the demolition of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was publicly launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show wasn’t quite ready. Telling the locals who endured the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an inhuman separation, which tore households apart and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which ripped relatives asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Bygone Background

Right from its creation in 1810, the hamlet cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for assigning all its male members the name Heinrich and counting them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the oddity was never an obstacle in the way of the residents gathering in the same pub, attending the same church and sending their young ones to the same educational institution.

After the War Separation

Next arrived the World War II. As soon as they came, the Russian troops installed wood stakes by the stream. For a twelve months they seized the complete village, establishing their headquarters in a house on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers urged them to withdraw across the brook. For a time, residents could continue to jump across, though as restrictions became stricter they were obliged to display identification, although everyone was aware who they were, and to return at evening.

Increase of Boundary Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was constructed, with landmines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The residents could continue to observe each other by climbing hills, but on the Soviet side signaling and yelling were banned. A female resident was placed on a East German secret police watch list for answering “same to you” to a western resident who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Creation

It was related to me accounts such as these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted much of his working life developing it. Residents were asked at an early stage about how much wall they desired to keep. They chose a section on the western edge, close to where a local resident managed to get away in the dead of night with a scaling tool, after which the border was heavily reinforced.

Conserved Buildings

2 guard towers are preserved together with a set of exhibits depicting the most impactful moments in the community’s chronicle. As we walk, Lebergen enumerates the restrictions: not a single person could approach 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers had to obtain specific authorization to care for their crops; the spouse could use the combine harvester but never the pair, in case they attempted to make a run for it. Military personnel kept guard.

Broader Background

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the East Germany ran nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most, but over two times more people (exceeding 300) were killed attempting to traverse it in countryside regions than in the big city. the director reminds me that 95% of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Hamlet Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or artisans, who accommodated to residing in the ambiguous area between a pair of belief systems by staying low-profile and looking after their farms. They neither supported the socialist government nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the village became a kind of pilgrimage. Approximately 15,000 came to see annually, viewing tools in their hands, to stare – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after unification, the TV show, a TV series about a made-up village resembling Mödlareuth, caused fresh interest.

Present-Day Developments

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