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An stream so low you hardly got your feet wet separated a village for over four decades of time. By an accident of landscape, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by evergreen groves, pastures and stunning views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a frontier that was established first by a enclosure and then by a wall. US troops called it Little Berlin.

Memorialising History

Months after their own wall was opened, and prior to their nation had become one in 1990, a collection of villagers set about commemorating their heritage. The work is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was officially launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not entirely ready. Addressing the villagers who endured the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an cruel split, which ripped households apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

“You were observers of an brutal separation, which pulled families asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Historical Background

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the community straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family best known for assigning all its men the name Heinrich and counting them in order by birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the manner of the residents drinking in the same pub, visiting the very same religious building and enrolling their children to the very same learning center.

Post-War Separation

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. As soon as they came, the Russians installed wood stakes by the stream. For a twelve months they seized the entire community, creating their control center in a dwelling on the western side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces urged them to retreat back over the stream. For a time, villagers could continue to jump across, though as limitations became stricter they were obliged to show identity papers, even though each person was aware who they were, and to come back at evening.

Escalation of Border Measures

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal closing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was constructed, with explosives, vehicle barriers and observation points. The locals could still view each other by climbing hills, but on the eastern side waving and shouting were forbidden. A local woman was put on a GDR intelligence surveillance list for replying “likewise” to a West German local who said her “good new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

I heard stories like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a large part of his working life developing it. Residents were polled at an early stage about how how long a section wall they desired to keep. They selected a portion on the Bavarian fringe, near where a local resident was able to escape in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, subsequently the boundary was substantially fortified.

Conserved Installations

Two watchtowers are preserved in addition to a set of displays depicting the most dramatic dates in the community’s history. As we walk, Lebergen details the regulations: nobody could approach 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers had to obtain special permission to tend to their crops; the husband or wife could use the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances both, lest they tried to make a run for it. Military personnel kept guard.

Larger Background

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the GDR extended 1,400km, from the northern sea in the north to this location in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and documented the most frequently, but over double the number individuals (exceeding 300) died attempting to traverse it in rural areas than in the urban center. Lebegern tells me that almost all of efforts to cross did not succeed.

Village Existence

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or craftsmen, who accommodated to residing in the uncertain territory between 2 political systems by avoiding attention and caring for their fields. They nor did they backed the East German authorities nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a type of pilgrimage. About 15,000 came to visit each year, viewing tools in possession, to stare – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after merger, the TV show, a broadcast production about a imaginary community resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in new interest.

Present-Day Changes

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a cafe, store, movie theater and big car park – is expected to