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A stream so narrow you barely got your ankles wet separated a community for over four decades worth of time. By an accident of landscape, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by pine forests, fields and spectacular views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a boundary that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. American soldiers dubbed it Little Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

Months after their own barrier was torn down, and prior to their country had reunified in 1990, a collection of local people set about documenting their heritage. The work is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the fall of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not completely ready. Telling the locals who experienced the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an inhuman division, which pulled households apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which ripped households apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Past Background

Even at its establishment in 1810, the village cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a princely house most renowned for giving all its men the title Heinrich and counting them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the oddity never stood in the path of the inhabitants gathering in the very same tavern, going to the same church and placing their kids to the identical school.

Following WWII Division

Subsequently occurred the World War II. As soon as they arrived, the Russians put up wooden posts by the creek. For a annual period they took over the whole village, establishing their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces urged them to pull back back over the stream. For a period, villagers could still hop over, though as restrictions became stricter they were obliged to show identity papers, although each person was aware who they were, and to come back at night.

Intensification of Frontier Measures

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was built, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The locals could still see each other by scaling slopes, but on the eastern side gesturing and yelling were forbidden. One woman was added to a GDR intelligence surveillance list for answering “back at you” to a Bavarian resident who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Creation

I was told stories including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated a large part of his working life creating it. Locals were polled early on about how much barrier they desired to keep. They selected a stretch on the west perimeter, close to where a villager succeeded to escape in the dead of night with a ladder, after which the frontier was substantially strengthened.

Preserved Installations

Two watchtowers are maintained together with a series of exhibits depicting the most significant dates in the hamlet’s history. As we walk, Robert Lebegern enumerates the restrictions: no one could get closer than 5km of the border. Rural residents required special permission to tend to their fields; the partner could work the harvesting machine but under no circumstances both, for fear that they sought to flee. Soldiers kept guard.

Wider Background

The frontier between Western Germany and the GDR stretched nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the north to this location in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the greatest, but in excess of double the number persons (more than 300) died trying to cross it in countryside regions than in the urban center. the director informs me that 95% of efforts to cross did not succeed.

Community Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or skilled workers, who adjusted to dwelling in the grey zone between two belief systems by staying low-profile and looking after their fields. They nor did they supported the communist regime nor fought it, Robert Lebegern states.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the village became a sort of destination. Approximately fifteen thousand came to visit each year, binoculars in possession, to stare – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

25 years after unification, the television series, a TV series about a fictional village similar to Mödlareuth, caused fresh curiosity.

Present-Day Developments

The inauguration of the new museum – with a restaurant, shop, cinema room and sizable car park – is likely to