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An creek so narrow you hardly got your feet wet separated a settlement for over four decades of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by coniferous woods, meadows and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to span the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was established first by a fence and then by a wall. United States military personnel nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Several months after their own wall was breached, and before their state had unified again in 1990, a group of local people began documenting their history. The work is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was officially launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition was not completely prepared. Telling the villagers who experienced the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an inhuman division, which pulled households asunder and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which tore households into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Past Origins

Starting at its creation in 1810, the village straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a princely house best known for bestowing all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the quirk did not stand in the manner of the inhabitants socializing in the identical tavern, visiting the same place of worship and sending their young ones to the identical educational institution.

Following WWII Split

Next arrived the global conflict. The moment they came, the Russians installed timber poles by the brook. For a twelve months they occupied the complete community, establishing their command in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The Americans urged them to pull back to the other side of the stream. For a while, residents could still jump across, though as restrictions tightened they were obliged to display ID, despite the fact that all knew who they were, and to return at evening.

Increase of Border Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was built, with landmines, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The residents could still see each other by climbing slopes, but on the east side gesturing and shouting were forbidden. A female resident was added to a Stasi watch list for responding “likewise” to a Bavarian resident who wished her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

I heard stories like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated much of his occupational time developing it. Locals were asked at an early stage about how what length of wall they desired to maintain. They selected a portion on the west edge, close to where one of their own succeeded to escape in the middle of the night with a climbing device, after which the frontier was substantially reinforced.

Conserved Structures

2 watchtowers are preserved together with a set of tableaux showing the most impactful dates in the village’s history. As we stroll, the director details the rules: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the border. Rural residents needed special permission to care for their fields; the partner could operate the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances the two, lest they sought to make a run for it. Armed guards were on duty.

Broader Background

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic ran 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most frequently, but in excess of two times more persons (more than 300) died attempting to traverse it in countryside regions than in the urban center. Lebegern reminds me that almost all of escape attempts failed.

Village Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or artisans, who adjusted to dwelling in the grey zone between two belief systems by keeping their heads down and caring for their fields. They neither backed the communist regime nor resisted it, the director states.

Interest

For visitors, however, the village became a kind of destination. Roughly 15k came to see annually, binoculars in hand, to stare – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defense official.

25 years after unification, Tannbach, a TV series about a imaginary village like Mödlareuth, led to new curiosity.

Current Developments

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, shop, movie theater and sizable car park – is likely to