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An creek so narrow you scarcely got your feet wet divided a village for in excess of four decades worth of time. By an accident of geography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by pine forests, fields and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the center of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to straddle Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a border that was established first by a enclosure and then by a wall. US troops called it Small Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Months after their own division was breached, and prior to their country had reunified in 1990, a collection of residents began commemorating their past. The work is about to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth remembrance of the demolition of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was formally opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition was not completely finished. Telling the locals who experienced the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an inhuman split, which tore families apart and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an cruel split, which tore relatives into pieces and turned local residents into strangers.”

Historical Background

Right from its establishment in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most famous for giving all its male descendants the name Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the manner of the inhabitants drinking in the identical tavern, going to the very same place of worship and placing their young ones to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Split

Next arrived the global conflict. As soon as they arrived, the Soviet forces erected wooden posts by the stream. For a year they occupied the complete community, setting up their control center in a building on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans convinced them to retreat back over the brook. For a while, villagers could still cross over, though as controls increased they were required to present identity papers, although all understood who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Escalation of Frontier Controls

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was built, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and guard posts. The villagers could still see each other by ascending elevations, but on the eastern side gesturing and shouting were prohibited. One woman was added to a GDR intelligence watch list for answering “same to you” to a Bavarian resident who greeted her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

I heard stories including these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a large part of his professional career creating it. Villagers were asked early on about how what length of wall they wanted to maintain. They chose a section on the western fringe, close to where one of their own was able to flee in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, after which the border was significantly fortified.

Preserved Installations

A pair of observation towers are conserved together with a set of exhibits illustrating the most impactful moments in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we walk, Robert Lebegern details the rules: nobody could come within 5km of the boundary. Rural residents required special permission to look after their produce; the partner could use the combine harvester but under no circumstances the two, in case they tried to escape. Armed guards were on duty.

Larger Perspective

The boundary between West Germany and the GDR extended 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and honored the most frequently, but more than double the number people (well over 300) lost their lives trying to traverse it in rural areas than in the big city. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95% of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Community Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or craftsmen, who accommodated to living in the grey zone between 2 belief systems by staying low-profile and caring for their farms. They did not endorsed the communist regime nor opposed it, the director states.

Interest

For visitors, however, the settlement became a type of site of interest. Roughly fifteen thousand came to see annually, optical devices in their hands, to gawp – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty five years after unification, the TV show, a television program about a imaginary hamlet like Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed interest.

Current Evolutions

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, shop, movie theater and sizable vehicle area – is likely to