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A creek so shallow you barely got your ankles wet separated a village for over four decades. Due to a quirk of topography, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by coniferous woods, fields and spectacular views, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a border that was established first by a fence and then by a wall. US troops called it Small Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

Months after their own division was breached, and even before their state had unified again in 1990, a collection of villagers started documenting their heritage. The effort is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth remembrance of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the display wasn’t quite ready. Addressing the locals who endured the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which ripped households apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman separation, which ripped relatives into pieces and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Historical Origins

Starting at its founding in 1810, the community straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most famous for giving all its men the name Heinrich and labeling them in order by birth. As Steinmeier told the crowd, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the path of the inhabitants drinking in the very same tavern, going to the identical religious building and sending their children to the identical school.

Post-War Separation

Next arrived the global conflict. Immediately after they arrived, the Soviet forces put up timber poles by the stream. For a annual period they seized the whole village, creating their control center in a house on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The US forces persuaded them to withdraw across the stream. For a period, residents could still hop over, though as limitations tightened they were forced to show identification, although all was aware who they were, and to return at after dark.

Increase of Border Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was constructed, with mines, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The residents could still observe each other by ascending hills, but on the east side gesturing and calling out were banned. One woman was put on a GDR intelligence watch list for replying “likewise” to a western resident who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

I was told stories like these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has devoted much of his professional career developing it. Villagers were consulted in the initial phases about how how long a section barrier they desired to keep. They selected a portion on the Bavarian edge, near where one of their own managed to escape in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, following which the frontier was substantially fortified.

Preserved Installations

Two watchtowers are conserved alongside a series of displays showing the most impactful events in the village’s past. As we move, Lebergen details the restrictions: nobody could come within 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers needed particular approval to care for their fields; the spouse could use the harvesting machine but under no circumstances both, in case they tried to flee. Soldiers stood watch.

Larger Perspective

The boundary between Western Germany and the GDR extended 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and honored the most frequently, but over twice as many people (well over 300) were killed seeking to pass over it in provincial zones than in the big city. the director informs me that 95 percent of escape attempts did not succeed.

Hamlet Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or craftsmen, who adapted to living in the ambiguous area between a pair of political systems by staying low-profile and caring for their farms. They did not supported the East German authorities nor opposed it, the director clarifies.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the settlement became a type of destination. Roughly 15k came to see annually, optical devices in hand, to stare – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after unification, the television series, a television program about a fictional hamlet like Mödlareuth, caused new attention.

Current Developments

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a cafe, store, cinema room and big vehicle area – is likely to