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An stream so shallow you scarcely got your ankles wet separated a community for over four decades of time. Due to a quirk of topography, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by evergreen groves, meadows and stunning vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a boundary that was marked first by a barrier and then by a wall. American soldiers nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Months after their own wall was opened, and before their state had reunified in 1990, a assembly of local people set about commemorating their heritage. The project is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the fall of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not completely prepared. Addressing the locals who lived through the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an brutal split, which tore relatives into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

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

Historical Background

Starting at its founding in 1810, the village straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a princely house best known for bestowing all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the way of the inhabitants drinking in the same tavern, attending the very same religious building and sending their young ones to the identical educational institution.

After the War Split

Subsequently occurred the World War II. Immediately after they arrived, the Russians put up wood stakes by the creek. For a annual period they seized the whole village, establishing their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The US forces convinced them to pull back to the other side of the creek. For a time, locals could continue to hop over, though as restrictions increased they were required to show identity papers, despite the fact that everyone knew who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Increase of Boundary Controls

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was erected, with explosives, tank traps and watchtowers. The villagers could still view each other by ascending slopes, but on the eastern side waving and calling out were banned. A female resident was added to a Stasi watch list for responding “same to you” to a western local who said her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I was told accounts including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a significant portion of his occupational time building it. Residents were polled in the initial phases about how what length of wall they wished to preserve. They opted for a portion on the west edge, near where a local resident managed to escape in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, after which the frontier was significantly fortified.

Preserved Installations

2 observation towers are maintained alongside a series of tableaux illustrating the most dramatic events in the hamlet’s past. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern details the rules: no one could approach 5km of the frontier. Farmers had to obtain special permission to care for their fields; the husband or wife could operate the harvesting machine but under no circumstances both, in case they attempted to make a run for it. Military personnel stood watch.

Wider Context

The boundary between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic ran 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the north to the south in the south. Berlin is recalled and documented the most frequently, but more than double the number persons (more than 300) lost their lives trying to traverse it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95 percent of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Community Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or artisans, who adapted to dwelling in the ambiguous area between 2 political systems by staying low-profile and looking after their land. They did not backed the socialist government nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a type of pilgrimage. Approximately fifteen thousand came to see annually, binoculars in hand, to gawp – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

25 years after unification, the television series, a broadcast production about a imaginary village like Mödlareuth, caused fresh curiosity.

Modern Changes

The opening of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, shop, movie theater and big car park – is probable to