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An stream so low you hardly got your feet wet separated a village for over four decades of time. Due to a quirk of landscape, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, pastures and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to span Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a boundary that was marked first by a fence and then by a barricade. United States military personnel dubbed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating History

Months after their own division was opened, and prior to their nation had unified again in 1990, a collection of villagers began memorialising their history. The project is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show was not completely ready. Telling the villagers who endured the past era, Steinmeier remarked: “You were bystanders of an brutal split, which tore relatives asunder and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an cruel split, which tore households asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Historical Origins

Starting at its creation in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a royal family best known for bestowing all its men the name Heinrich and counting them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the quirk did not stand in the manner of the inhabitants gathering in the identical tavern, visiting the very same place of worship and sending their young ones to the identical learning center.

Following WWII Split

Subsequently occurred the World War II. Immediately after they appeared, the Russians installed wooden posts by the brook. For a twelve months they occupied the entire village, creating their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces persuaded them to retreat to the other side of the stream. For a while, residents could continue to cross over, though as limitations became stricter they were required to show identity papers, even though all was aware who they were, and to return at after dark.

Intensification of Border Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was erected, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The villagers could still view each other by climbing slopes, but on the eastern side waving and shouting were prohibited. One woman was added to a Stasi surveillance list for replying “back at you” to a Bavarian villager who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Development

I was told narratives like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted a large part of his professional career building it. Locals were polled early on about how what length of wall they wanted to preserve. They opted for a section on the western fringe, adjacent to where a villager was able to get away in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, following which the boundary was significantly strengthened.

Preserved Installations

2 observation towers are maintained in addition to a collection of tableaux showing the most dramatic moments in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we walk, the director lists the regulations: nobody could get closer than 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain particular approval to look after their produce; the partner could use the agricultural equipment but not the pair, in case they attempted to escape. Military personnel kept guard.

Wider Context

The border between West Germany and the GDR extended nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the north to this location in the south. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the most, but in excess of double the number individuals (more than 300) were killed seeking to cross it in countryside regions than in the big city. Lebegern reminds me that almost all of escape attempts failed.

Village Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who accommodated to residing in the grey zone between 2 belief systems by keeping their heads down and caring for their land. They neither supported the East German authorities nor resisted it, Lebegern states.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the village became a sort of destination. About 15k visited each year, viewing tools in their hands, to stare – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after merger, Tannbach, a television program about a made-up hamlet similar to Mödlareuth, caused renewed attention.

Present-Day Developments

The launch of the new museum – with a coffee shop, boutique, movie theater and big car park – is expected to