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A brook so narrow you hardly got your ankles wet split a settlement for more than four decades. By an accident of landscape, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by coniferous woods, pastures and stunning views, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the misfortune to straddle Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a boundary that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a barricade. American soldiers nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Months after their own barrier was opened, and before their country had unified again in 1990, a group of local people began documenting their past. The work is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the fall of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not entirely finished. Addressing the locals who lived through the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were observers of an cruel separation, which ripped families apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were observers of an brutal split, which tore households asunder and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Historical Context

Even at its establishment in 1810, the community straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for assigning all its men the name Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier told the audience, the oddity never stood in the way of the locals socializing in the identical tavern, visiting the identical church and placing their kids to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Separation

Next arrived the global conflict. As soon as they came, the Soviet forces erected wooden posts by the brook. For a twelve months they took over the whole hamlet, establishing their command in a building on the Bavarian side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The Americans urged them to pull back back over the stream. For a time, residents could continue to cross over, though as restrictions tightened they were required to present identity papers, although all was aware who they were, and to come back at night.

Escalation of Frontier Measures

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was erected, with landmines, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The locals could continue to observe each other by ascending slopes, but on the Soviet side signaling and calling out were banned. A female resident was added to a East German secret police watch list for replying “back at you” to a Bavarian villager who greeted her “happy new year”.

Museum Development

I was told stories including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a large part of his occupational time building it. Locals were asked early on about how much wall they wished to preserve. They chose a section on the west perimeter, near where a villager managed to escape in the middle of the night with a ladder, after which the boundary was heavily strengthened.

Conserved Installations

Two guard towers are conserved alongside a set of displays depicting the most dramatic events in the village’s chronicle. As we move, Robert Lebegern details the restrictions: not a single person could come within 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain particular approval to care for their fields; the partner could operate the agricultural equipment but never the two, in case they sought to escape. Military personnel stood watch.

Wider Perspective

The frontier between West Germany and the East Germany extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most, but in excess of two times more individuals (exceeding 300) died seeking to cross it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. Lebegern tells me that 95% of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Village Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who adapted to residing in the grey zone between 2 political systems by staying low-profile and looking after their farms. They did not endorsed the East German authorities nor fought it, Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a type of site of interest. Approximately 15k came to visit each year, viewing tools in their hands, to gawp – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty five years after reunification, the television series, a TV series about a made-up community resembling Mödlareuth, led to new curiosity.

Modern Evolutions

The launch of the new museum – with a cafe, shop, film screening area and large car park – is expected to