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An creek so shallow you scarcely got your feet wet separated a community for more than four decades of time. By an accident of geography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by coniferous woods, pastures and stunning views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was marked first by a barrier and then by a wall. US troops nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Preserving the Past

A few months after their own wall was torn down, and prior to their nation had become one in 1990, a assembly of residents started documenting their history. The work is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the collapse of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite prepared. Addressing the residents who experienced the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which tore families apart and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were observers of an cruel division, which pulled relatives apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

Past Background

Starting at its creation in 1810, the village spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for assigning all its male descendants the name Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the inhabitants drinking in the very same inn, attending the same church and placing their young ones to the identical educational institution.

Post-War Separation

Next arrived the global conflict. As soon as they arrived, the Russians erected timber poles by the stream. For a annual period they occupied the whole hamlet, establishing their headquarters in a house on the western side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces convinced them to withdraw to the other side of the creek. For a period, residents could still cross over, though as controls increased they were obliged to present ID, even though all knew who they were, and to return at evening.

Intensification of Boundary Measures

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was built, with landmines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The residents could still view each other by climbing elevations, but on the eastern side gesturing and shouting were prohibited. A local woman was added to a Stasi monitoring list for replying “likewise” to a western villager who said her “prosperous new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

I heard narratives including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a large part of his professional career creating it. Residents were consulted in the initial phases about how how long a section barrier they wished to preserve. They selected a stretch on the west edge, adjacent to where a local resident succeeded to flee in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, subsequently the frontier was significantly fortified.

Conserved Installations

2 observation towers are preserved alongside a series of exhibits depicting the most significant dates in the hamlet’s past. As we walk, Robert Lebegern details the rules: no one could approach 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain special permission to care for their crops; the partner could use the combine harvester but under no circumstances both, in case they sought to escape. Soldiers were on duty.

Larger Context

The border between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic stretched 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the northern part to here in the south. Berlin is remembered and documented the most frequently, but more than twice as many persons (well over 300) died trying to cross it in rural areas than in the urban center. the director reminds me that 95 percent of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Hamlet Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or craftsmen, who adapted to living in the ambiguous area between 2 political systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their farms. They did not supported the socialist government nor fought it, Lebegern states.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a kind of destination. About 15k visited every year, binoculars in possession, to gawp – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after unification, Tannbach, a TV series about a fictional community like Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed interest.

Modern Evolutions

The launch of the new museum – with a restaurant, shop, movie theater and big vehicle area – is likely to