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A brook so shallow you barely got your feet wet divided a settlement for more than four decades. By an accident of topography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement encircled by coniferous woods, fields and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the bad luck to straddle Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a border that was marked first by a barrier and then by a partition. US troops called it Little Berlin.

Commemorating History

Several months after their own barrier was breached, and prior to their country had unified again in 1990, a collection of residents set about commemorating their history. The work is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth remembrance of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not completely ready. Telling the villagers who endured the former times, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an cruel separation, which pulled families apart and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were observers of an brutal division, which tore relatives apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Historical Background

Right from its creation in 1810, the village cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house best known for bestowing all its male members the designation Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the way of the inhabitants socializing in the very same tavern, going to the identical religious building and sending their young ones to the identical educational institution.

Post-War Division

Then came the World War II. The moment they appeared, the Russian troops installed timber poles by the brook. For a annual period they took over the whole village, creating their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to withdraw across the stream. For a while, residents could still hop over, though as limitations increased they were required to present identification, despite the fact that everyone understood who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Increase of Frontier Controls

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official closing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was erected, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and guard posts. The locals could still view each other by climbing elevations, but on the eastern side waving and calling out were prohibited. One woman was added to a Stasi surveillance list for answering “likewise” to a western local who wished her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I was told stories such as these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent much of his professional career developing it. Residents were polled at an early stage about how much wall they desired to preserve. They selected a portion on the west perimeter, adjacent to where a local resident managed to flee in the dead of night with a climbing device, after which the boundary was heavily strengthened.

Preserved Installations

Two observation towers are maintained in addition to a collection of tableaux depicting the most impactful moments in the village’s past. As we stroll, the director details the restrictions: nobody could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers had to obtain special permission to look after their fields; the partner could operate the harvesting machine but not both, lest they attempted to escape. Armed guards stood watch.

Larger Perspective

The border between West Germany and the GDR ran 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and documented the most, but over double the number people (exceeding 300) lost their lives attempting to pass over it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. the director reminds me that almost all of escape attempts did not succeed.

Village Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or artisans, who adapted to residing in the uncertain territory between a pair of belief systems by staying low-profile and caring for their farms. They did not backed the socialist government nor opposed it, the director explains.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the village became a kind of pilgrimage. Approximately 15,000 came to visit each year, binoculars in possession, to look – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

25 years after reunification, the TV show, a television program about a fictional village similar to Mödlareuth, led to fresh curiosity.

Present-Day Evolutions

The opening of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, boutique, film screening area and big vehicle area – is likely to