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A stream so narrow you barely got your ankles wet split a community for in excess of four decades worth of time. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by pine forests, fields and breathtaking views, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was established first by a enclosure and then by a wall. American soldiers called it Small Berlin.

Preserving the Past

Several months after their own division was breached, and even before their state had become one in 1990, a group of villagers started commemorating their heritage. The work is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the fall of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was publicly launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show wasn’t quite ready. Addressing the villagers who lived through the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an cruel separation, which pulled households apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an brutal separation, which tore relatives into pieces and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Historical Background

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the village cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most famous for assigning all its male members the title Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the peculiarity never stood in the way of the residents socializing in the very same tavern, visiting the very same place of worship and sending their young ones to the same school.

Post-War Split

Then came the global conflict. Immediately after they came, the Soviet forces installed wood stakes by the brook. For a annual period they took over the whole village, setting up their command in a house on the western side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans persuaded them to withdraw back over the stream. For a time, residents could continue to hop over, though as limitations tightened they were obliged to show identification, although each person was aware who they were, and to go back at evening.

Increase of Frontier Controls

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was constructed, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and guard posts. The villagers could continue to view each other by scaling hills, but on the Soviet side signaling and calling out were banned. One woman was placed on a Stasi surveillance list for answering “back at you” to a West German resident who said her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I heard stories including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has devoted much of his professional career building it. Locals were asked at an early stage about how much structure they desired to preserve. They chose a portion on the Bavarian perimeter, adjacent to where a villager succeeded to flee in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, after which the boundary was significantly strengthened.

Preserved Structures

Two watchtowers are maintained together with a series of exhibits illustrating the most impactful dates in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we stroll, Lebergen details the rules: no one could come within 5km of the border. Rural residents needed special permission to look after their crops; the husband or wife could operate the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the two, in case they tried to escape. Armed guards kept guard.

Larger Background

The frontier between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and honored the greatest, but more than double the number persons (more than 300) lost their lives trying to pass over it in rural areas than in the metropolis. the director tells me that 95% of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Community Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who adjusted to residing in the uncertain territory between two political systems by avoiding attention and caring for their farms. They nor did they backed the communist regime nor opposed it, Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the settlement became a type of destination. Approximately 15k came to visit each year, viewing tools in possession, to gawp – and then rapidly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

25 years after merger, the television series, a broadcast production about a imaginary village resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in new attention.

Current Developments

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, store, cinema room and big car park – is expected to