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An brook so shallow you scarcely got your ankles wet divided a settlement for more than four decades of time. Due to a quirk of topography, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by pine forests, fields and stunning vistas, found themselves at the center of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to span the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a boundary that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a barricade. American soldiers nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Commemorating History

A few months after their own barrier was opened, and even before their state had unified again in 1990, a assembly of residents set about memorialising their heritage. The work is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition was not entirely prepared. Speaking to the locals who experienced the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an cruel split, which ripped relatives into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

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

Historical Background

Even at its founding in 1810, the community cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for giving all its men the name Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the quirk did not stand in the manner of the inhabitants gathering in the same inn, attending the very same church and placing their kids to the identical school.

Following WWII Division

Subsequently occurred the World War II. The moment they came, the Russians put up wood stakes by the brook. For a annual period they occupied the entire hamlet, setting up their headquarters in a house on the Bavarian side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers persuaded them to pull back across the brook. For a time, residents could continue to cross over, though as limitations increased they were forced to present identity papers, despite the fact that all knew who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Intensification of Frontier Measures

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was erected, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The residents could still view each other by ascending hills, but on the Soviet side signaling and calling out were prohibited. One woman was placed on a East German secret police monitoring list for replying “back at you” to a western villager who said her “good new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

I was told accounts including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent a large part of his working life creating it. Villagers were consulted early on about how how long a section wall they desired to maintain. They chose a stretch on the west perimeter, adjacent to where one of their own succeeded to escape in the darkest hours with a ladder, following which the boundary was significantly reinforced.

Conserved Structures

Two watchtowers are maintained in addition to a series of exhibits showing the most significant events in the hamlet’s history. As we move, the director lists the rules: nobody could approach 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers required specific authorization to care for their crops; the spouse could operate the combine harvester but under no circumstances the two, in case they attempted to flee. Soldiers kept guard.

Broader Context

The frontier between West Germany and the East Germany ran 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and documented the most, but in excess of twice as many individuals (well over 300) died trying to cross it in countryside regions than in the big city. the director reminds me that 95% of efforts to cross failed.

Hamlet Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or craftsmen, who accommodated to residing in the ambiguous area between two belief systems by keeping their heads down and tending to their farms. They neither supported the East German authorities nor fought it, Lebegern states.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a sort of destination. Approximately 15,000 came to visit annually, optical devices in possession, to look – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after merger, the TV show, a broadcast production about a imaginary hamlet like Mödlareuth, led to fresh curiosity.

Present-Day Evolutions

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, boutique, film screening area and large vehicle area – is likely to