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An brook so shallow you barely got your ankles wet separated a settlement for more than four decades. By an accident of geography, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by coniferous woods, pastures and spectacular views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to straddle the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a border that was marked first by a barrier and then by a barricade. United States military personnel nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving the Past

A few months after their own barrier was breached, and prior to their nation had reunified in 1990, a assembly of local people started commemorating their past. The project is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the demolition of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the display was not entirely finished. Speaking to the residents who lived through the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an cruel division, which tore relatives asunder and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which ripped relatives asunder and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Historical Context

Right from its creation in 1810, the community cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for giving all its male members the name Heinrich and labeling them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the locals gathering in the identical tavern, visiting the very same religious building and sending their children to the same learning center.

Following WWII Division

Next arrived the global conflict. The moment they appeared, the Russians put up timber poles by the brook. For a twelve months they seized the entire hamlet, establishing their headquarters in a building on the western side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans urged them to withdraw to the other side of the brook. For a period, villagers could still jump across, though as restrictions became stricter they were forced to display ID, even though all understood who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Increase of Frontier Measures

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was erected, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The villagers could continue to see each other by climbing hills, but on the Soviet side signaling and yelling were forbidden. A local woman was placed on a GDR intelligence watch list for responding “same to you” to a western villager who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Exhibition Center Creation

I heard accounts including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent a significant portion of his working life developing it. Residents were consulted in the initial phases about how how long a section wall they wanted to keep. They opted for a section on the Bavarian perimeter, adjacent to where one of their own succeeded to flee in the middle of the night with a ladder, after which the frontier was heavily reinforced.

Maintained Structures

Two guard towers are maintained alongside a set of exhibits illustrating the most impactful events in the community’s chronicle. As we walk, Lebergen lists the rules: nobody could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Farmers had to obtain special permission to tend to their produce; the spouse could work the combine harvester but under no circumstances the pair, in case they tried to flee. Armed guards stood watch.

Broader Perspective

The border between Western Germany and the GDR ran nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to here in the south. Berlin is recalled and honored the most, but in excess of two times more individuals (well over 300) lost their lives seeking to traverse it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. Lebegern informs me that 95% of escape attempts failed.

Village Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or craftsmen, who adjusted to residing in the ambiguous area between 2 political systems by keeping their heads down and tending to their fields. They neither supported the socialist government nor fought it, Robert Lebegern states.

Interest

For visitors, however, the settlement became a kind of pilgrimage. Approximately 15,000 came to see every year, viewing tools in hand, to stare – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the television series, a television program about a made-up hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, led to renewed attention.

Current Developments

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a cafe, shop, cinema room and large car park – is likely to