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An creek so shallow you barely got your feet wet separated a settlement for over four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of landscape, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by evergreen groves, fields and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to cross Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a border that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a barricade. US troops dubbed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating History

Months after their own division was breached, and before their country had reunified in 1990, a collection of residents began documenting their heritage. The project is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the collapse of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was publicly inaugurated by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not entirely prepared. Addressing the villagers who endured the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an cruel split, which pulled relatives apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which tore households apart and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Past Context

Even at its founding in 1810, the community spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most renowned for assigning all its male members the title Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the way of the residents drinking in the very same pub, attending the identical religious building and sending their children to the identical educational institution.

Following WWII Separation

Next arrived the second world war. The moment they appeared, the Russians put up timber poles by the creek. For a twelve months they seized the complete hamlet, creating their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The Americans persuaded them to retreat back over the stream. For a while, locals could still cross over, though as limitations increased they were obliged to display identity papers, even though all was aware who they were, and to return at after dark.

Intensification of Frontier Controls

After that, in 1952, came barbed wire and the legal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was erected, with explosives, tank traps and watchtowers. The residents could continue to observe each other by scaling elevations, but on the east side signaling and yelling were banned. A local woman was put on a Stasi surveillance list for answering “likewise” to a Bavarian villager who greeted her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

I was told narratives including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted much of his professional career developing it. Residents were asked early on about how much structure they wished to keep. They chose a section on the Bavarian perimeter, close to where a villager was able to flee in the darkest hours with a ladder, following which the border was heavily strengthened.

Maintained Structures

Two observation towers are preserved in addition to a series of exhibits illustrating the most significant moments in the community’s history. As we move, the director enumerates the rules: not a single person could come within 5km of the border. Agricultural workers required special permission to look after their crops; the husband or wife could use the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the pair, lest they attempted to flee. Armed guards stood watch.

Wider Context

The boundary between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic extended nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and honored the most, but in excess of two times more people (exceeding 300) lost their lives seeking to cross it in countryside regions than in the big city. the director informs me that 95 percent of attempts to flee failed.

Hamlet Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who adjusted to living in the grey zone between two belief systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their fields. They neither backed the East German authorities nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern states.

Interest

For visitors, however, the village became a type of destination. Approximately 15,000 came to visit annually, viewing tools in their hands, to gawp – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after reunification, the television series, a broadcast production about a made-up hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, caused new interest.

Current Changes

The launch of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, shop, film screening area and big car park – is expected to