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A stream so shallow you scarcely got your feet wet divided a village for more than four decades worth of time. By an accident of geography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by evergreen groves, pastures and stunning vistas, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a border that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a wall. United States military personnel dubbed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating History

Several months after their own wall was opened, and prior to their nation had unified again in 1990, a group of villagers started commemorating their past. The project is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the collapse of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally inaugurated by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not completely prepared. Speaking to the locals who lived through the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an inhuman separation, which tore relatives asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an cruel split, which pulled relatives asunder and turned local residents into aliens.”

Historical Origins

Even at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most famous for bestowing all its men the title Heinrich and counting them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the peculiarity did not stand in the manner of the locals drinking in the identical inn, going to the very same church and enrolling their children to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Division

Then came the global conflict. As soon as they came, the Russian troops erected wood stakes by the creek. For a annual period they occupied the whole hamlet, establishing their command in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers convinced them to retreat back over the stream. For a while, residents could still hop over, though as controls increased they were forced to show identity papers, despite the fact that each person understood who they were, and to return at after dark.

Intensification of Border Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the legal closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was constructed, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The residents could still observe each other by climbing elevations, but on the eastern side waving and yelling were forbidden. A female resident was added to a GDR intelligence watch list for responding “back at you” to a West German villager who wished her “good new year”.

Museum Establishment

I was told narratives such as these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a significant portion of his occupational time building it. Villagers were consulted in the initial phases about how how long a section barrier they wanted to maintain. They selected a stretch on the western edge, near where a villager was able to flee in the dead of night with a ladder, after which the border was significantly reinforced.

Preserved Structures

2 watchtowers are maintained in addition to a series of displays depicting the most dramatic events in the village’s past. As we stroll, Lebergen details the regulations: not a single person could come within 5km of the border. Agricultural workers needed particular approval to tend to their crops; the spouse could use the agricultural equipment but never the pair, for fear that they tried to flee. Armed guards were on duty.

Larger Background

The border between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic extended 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and documented the most, but over twice as many individuals (well over 300) died attempting to pass over it in provincial zones than in the big city. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95% of efforts to cross did not succeed.

Community Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or artisans, who adjusted to living in the uncertain territory between a pair of ideological spheres by avoiding attention and looking after their land. They did not endorsed the communist regime nor resisted it, the director states.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the village became a sort of pilgrimage. About fifteen thousand came to visit each year, optical devices in their hands, to gawp – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

25 years after reunification, the TV show, a TV series about a made-up village like Mödlareuth, caused new attention.

Present-Day Changes

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, store, cinema room and large parking lot – is likely to