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An creek so shallow you scarcely got your feet wet split a village for over four decades of time. By an accident of landscape, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by coniferous woods, meadows and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to span the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a boundary that was established first by a fence and then by a barricade. US troops dubbed it Little Berlin.

Commemorating History

A few months after their own barrier was opened, and before their nation had become one in 1990, a assembly of villagers set about documenting their history. The work is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the fall of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition was not completely finished. Addressing the residents who endured the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which tore relatives apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were observers of an inhuman separation, which tore relatives asunder and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Bygone Origins

Right from its creation in 1810, the village straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a royal family most renowned for bestowing all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and counting them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the oddity was never an obstacle in the way of the inhabitants gathering in the identical pub, going to the identical place of worship and enrolling their children to the same educational institution.

Following WWII Division

Then came the World War II. Immediately after they appeared, the Russian troops erected timber poles by the creek. For a twelve months they took over the entire village, creating their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces persuaded them to retreat back over the creek. For a while, locals could still jump across, though as restrictions increased they were required to show identity papers, although all knew who they were, and to come back at night.

Escalation of Frontier Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official sealing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was built, with explosives, tank traps and observation points. The residents could continue to observe each other by ascending slopes, but on the Soviet side gesturing and shouting were prohibited. A local woman was put on a GDR intelligence watch list for replying “likewise” to a West German resident who said her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I was told narratives such as these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a significant portion of his professional career building it. Residents were polled in the initial phases about how what length of barrier they wanted to maintain. They opted for a section on the Bavarian perimeter, adjacent to where a local resident succeeded to flee in the middle of the night with a climbing device, following which the boundary was significantly strengthened.

Preserved Structures

2 guard towers are preserved together with a series of displays depicting the most impactful events in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we stroll, Lebergen enumerates the regulations: no one could approach 5km of the border. Rural residents required particular approval to care for their fields; the partner could use the agricultural equipment but not the two, lest they tried to flee. Soldiers were on duty.

Wider Perspective

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the East Germany extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the north to the south in the south. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the most frequently, but more than twice as many individuals (more than 300) were killed trying to traverse it in rural areas than in the big city. the director tells me that 95 percent of efforts to cross were unsuccessful.

Community Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or artisans, who accommodated to living in the uncertain territory between two political systems by avoiding attention and tending to their land. They neither supported the socialist government nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the village became a kind of site of interest. Approximately fifteen thousand visited annually, binoculars in their hands, to look – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the TV show, a television program about a fictional hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, led to new curiosity.

Modern Evolutions

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, store, cinema room and large car park – is expected to