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A creek so narrow you scarcely got your feet wet divided a settlement for in excess of four decades. Because of a chance of landscape, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by evergreen groves, pastures and breathtaking views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to span the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a frontier that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a partition. United States military personnel called it Little Berlin.

Preserving the Past

A few months after their own barrier was breached, and before their nation had unified again in 1990, a group of residents started documenting their past. The project is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the fall of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the display was not entirely ready. Addressing the locals who experienced the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were observers of an cruel division, which pulled relatives into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which ripped families into pieces and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

Historical Background

Starting at its founding in 1810, the village spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most famous for assigning all its male members the name Heinrich and counting them in order by birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the oddity never stood in the path of the residents socializing in the identical inn, visiting the identical place of worship and placing their young ones to the very same learning center.

Following WWII Split

Subsequently occurred the second world war. Immediately after they arrived, the Russians erected timber poles by the stream. For a twelve months they occupied the complete hamlet, setting up their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The Americans convinced them to withdraw across the stream. For a time, residents could still jump across, though as restrictions tightened they were obliged to display ID, although all knew who they were, and to come back at evening.

Increase of Boundary Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was constructed, with landmines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The villagers could still view each other by climbing hills, but on the east side waving and yelling were banned. A local woman was added to a East German secret police watch list for responding “same to you” to a western resident who wished her “good new year”.

Exhibition Center Establishment

I was told stories like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted much of his occupational time building it. Residents were polled early on about how what length of wall they wanted to preserve. They chose a section on the Bavarian fringe, near where a villager succeeded to flee in the middle of the night with a ladder, following which the border was heavily reinforced.

Conserved Installations

2 observation towers are conserved together with a series of displays showing the most significant events in the community’s history. As we move, the director lists the restrictions: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the border. Rural residents had to obtain special permission to care for their produce; the partner could work the agricultural equipment but not the pair, lest they sought to escape. Armed guards were on duty.

Larger Background

The border between West Germany and the GDR ran 1,400km, from the northern sea in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most, but over twice as many individuals (exceeding 300) died trying to cross it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern reminds me that almost all of escape attempts failed.

Community Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or artisans, who accommodated to living in the grey zone between a pair of belief systems by staying low-profile and looking after their fields. They did not backed the East German authorities nor fought it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the settlement became a type of site of interest. About 15k came to visit annually, optical devices in possession, to gawp – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after reunification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a imaginary hamlet like Mödlareuth, led to new interest.

Modern Evolutions

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, shop, film screening area and sizable car park – is probable to