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A creek so shallow you barely got your feet wet split a village for over four decades worth of time. By an accident of geography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by evergreen groves, fields and spectacular views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to straddle the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was established first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. United States military personnel nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Memorialising the Past

Several months after their own barrier was opened, and even before their country had become one in 1990, a assembly of local people started documenting their history. The effort is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition was not completely finished. Telling the villagers who endured the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an inhuman split, which ripped families into pieces and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which ripped households apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Past Background

Even at its creation in 1810, the community cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for assigning all its male members the name Heinrich and counting them sequentially by birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the quirk did not stand in the manner of the locals gathering in the identical inn, going to the very same religious building and placing their young ones to the same educational institution.

Post-War Separation

Next arrived the World War II. The moment they appeared, the Soviet forces installed wooden posts by the brook. For a year they took over the complete village, establishing their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The US forces convinced them to retreat back over the stream. For a period, residents could still jump across, though as controls tightened they were forced to show ID, although everyone knew who they were, and to return at after dark.

Intensification of Border Measures

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was built, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The residents could still see each other by ascending hills, but on the east side signaling and yelling were forbidden. A female resident was put on a GDR intelligence surveillance list for responding “likewise” to a West German local who said her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I heard stories like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has devoted a significant portion of his occupational time building it. Locals were consulted at an early stage about how much wall they wanted to preserve. They selected a section on the western fringe, close to where a villager was able to flee in the darkest hours with a ladder, subsequently the frontier was heavily fortified.

Preserved Buildings

2 watchtowers are conserved alongside a set of tableaux illustrating the most significant dates in the hamlet’s past. As we move, the director lists the regulations: no one could approach 5km of the border. Rural residents required particular approval to tend to their fields; the spouse could operate the agricultural equipment but never the pair, in case they attempted to make a run for it. Military personnel kept guard.

Broader Background

The frontier between Western Germany and the GDR extended 1,400km, from the northern sea in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and honored the most, but in excess of two times more persons (more than 300) died attempting to cross it in provincial zones than in the urban center. the director tells me that almost all of efforts to cross failed.

Village Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or skilled workers, who accommodated to living in the grey zone between 2 political systems by staying low-profile and looking after their fields. They nor did they backed the socialist government nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the village became a kind of destination. Approximately fifteen thousand came to visit annually, viewing tools in their hands, to stare – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

25 years after merger, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a imaginary community similar to Mödlareuth, caused renewed attention.

Current Developments

The opening of the recently established museum – with a cafe, store, cinema room and large car park – is probable to