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An creek so narrow you scarcely got your feet wet separated a village for over four decades. Due to a quirk of geography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by pine forests, meadows and stunning views, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to straddle the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a border that was established first by a barrier and then by a barricade. American soldiers called it Small Berlin.

Commemorating History

Several months after their own division was torn down, and prior to their state had become one in 1990, a assembly of local people began memorialising their history. The project is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the collapse of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display wasn’t quite finished. Addressing the residents who endured the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which tore relatives into pieces and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an cruel division, which tore households into pieces and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Bygone Background

Right from its creation in 1810, the village straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for bestowing all its male descendants the name Heinrich and counting them in order by birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the peculiarity did not stand in the manner of the inhabitants gathering in the identical pub, going to the same place of worship and placing their children to the very same learning center.

Post-War Separation

Then came the global conflict. Immediately after they arrived, the Soviet forces installed wood stakes by the creek. For a year they occupied the entire hamlet, setting up their headquarters in a building on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The US forces convinced them to pull back across the stream. For a time, locals could continue to cross over, though as restrictions increased they were required to display identity papers, although all was aware who they were, and to come back at night.

Escalation of Frontier Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was built, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The residents could continue to observe each other by climbing hills, but on the eastern side waving and calling out were prohibited. A female resident was put on a GDR intelligence watch list for answering “same to you” to a western villager who greeted her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

It was related to me narratives such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a large part of his professional career developing it. Residents were asked early on about how what length of wall they wished to maintain. They opted for a section on the west perimeter, adjacent to where one of their own was able to get away in the darkest hours with a climbing device, subsequently the border was substantially reinforced.

Conserved Buildings

Two observation towers are conserved together with a set of exhibits illustrating the most dramatic events in the community’s past. As we move, Robert Lebegern lists the restrictions: not a single person could approach 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers had to obtain particular approval to care for their produce; the partner could use the combine harvester but under no circumstances the pair, for fear that they attempted to make a run for it. Armed guards were on duty.

Wider Perspective

The boundary between West Germany and the GDR ran 1,400km, from the northern sea in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and documented the most frequently, but in excess of twice as many individuals (well over 300) lost their lives attempting to traverse it in provincial zones than in the big city. the director informs me that 95 percent of escape attempts failed.

Hamlet Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or craftsmen, who accommodated to residing in the uncertain territory between a pair of belief systems by keeping their heads down and caring for their fields. They neither endorsed the East German authorities nor resisted it, the director explains.

Interest

For visitors, however, the village became a kind of pilgrimage. Approximately fifteen thousand visited annually, viewing tools in their hands, to gawp – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after merger, Tannbach, a television program about a fictional hamlet like Mödlareuth, led to fresh curiosity.

Current Developments

The opening of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, shop, film screening area and big parking lot – is probable to