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An stream so low you scarcely got your ankles wet split a community for over four decades. By an accident of topography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, fields and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a border that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a barricade. American soldiers nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Preserving History

A few months after their own wall was opened, and prior to their country had unified again in 1990, a assembly of residents started commemorating their heritage. The effort is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the collapse of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not completely ready. Speaking to the villagers who endured the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an inhuman division, which pulled relatives apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which ripped relatives apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Past Origins

Starting at its creation in 1810, the village cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a princely house most famous for giving all its male members the designation Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the quirk did not stand in the path of the inhabitants drinking in the very same tavern, attending the same church and sending their children to the same learning center.

After the War Division

Then came the World War II. Immediately after they came, the Soviet forces erected wooden posts by the brook. For a twelve months they seized the complete hamlet, setting up their control center in a building on the western side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers convinced them to withdraw across the stream. For a time, villagers could still jump across, though as limitations tightened they were required to display identification, although everyone knew who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Increase of Frontier Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came barbed wire and the legal closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was constructed, with explosives, tank traps and watchtowers. The locals could continue to observe each other by climbing hills, but on the Soviet side gesturing and yelling were prohibited. One woman was placed on a East German secret police surveillance list for replying “likewise” to a Bavarian resident who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Establishment

It was related to me narratives like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a significant portion of his professional career developing it. Residents were consulted in the initial phases about how much wall they desired to preserve. They chose a portion on the western fringe, adjacent to where a villager managed to flee in the darkest hours with a climbing device, subsequently the boundary was significantly fortified.

Maintained Buildings

A pair of watchtowers are maintained in addition to a series of exhibits illustrating the most impactful events in the community’s past. As we move, the director lists the regulations: nobody could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers required special permission to look after their fields; the partner could operate the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances the two, for fear that they tried to make a run for it. Armed guards kept guard.

Wider Context

The boundary between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic ran 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic Sea in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most frequently, but more than two times more people (exceeding 300) were killed attempting to pass over it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. Lebegern informs me that 95 percent of attempts to flee failed.

Village Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were agricultural workers or artisans, who adapted to living in the uncertain territory between 2 political systems by keeping their heads down and tending to their fields. They did not backed the communist regime nor opposed it, Lebegern states.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the settlement became a sort of site of interest. Roughly fifteen thousand came to see annually, binoculars in their hands, to stare – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty five years after reunification, the TV show, a TV series about a imaginary community similar to Mödlareuth, caused new interest.

Modern Changes

The launch of the recently established museum – with a cafe, shop, cinema room and large vehicle area – is likely to