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An creek so shallow you scarcely got your feet wet separated a village for over four decades of time. Because of a chance of geography, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by evergreen groves, meadows and stunning vistas, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to cross the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a border that was marked first by a enclosure and then by a wall. US troops nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Memorialising the Past

Months after their own barrier was breached, and even before their state had unified again in 1990, a assembly of residents set about commemorating their history. The project is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the collapse of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was officially opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show wasn’t quite ready. Speaking to the residents who endured the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an inhuman division, which tore households into pieces and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman division, which tore families into pieces and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Past Origins

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for giving all its male members the designation Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the quirk did not stand in the manner of the residents socializing in the identical tavern, attending the very same religious building and placing their kids to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Division

Then came the global conflict. As soon as they came, the Russian troops erected wooden posts by the creek. For a year they occupied the complete village, establishing their control center in a house on the western side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers convinced them to withdraw to the other side of the brook. For a while, residents could still cross over, though as limitations increased they were obliged to show identity papers, despite the fact that all knew who they were, and to come back at night.

Increase of Frontier Measures

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal closing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was built, with explosives, tank traps and watchtowers. The residents could still observe each other by ascending slopes, but on the Soviet side waving and calling out were banned. A local woman was added to a Stasi monitoring list for responding “back at you” to a West German resident who greeted her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I was told accounts like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated much of his occupational time building it. Locals were asked in the initial phases about how much wall they desired to maintain. They chose a section on the Bavarian fringe, adjacent to where a local resident succeeded to escape in the darkest hours with a climbing device, subsequently the frontier was significantly fortified.

Maintained Structures

Two observation towers are preserved alongside a set of displays depicting the most significant events in the village’s past. As we move, Lebergen details the restrictions: nobody could come within 5km of the frontier. Farmers required specific authorization to tend to their crops; the husband or wife could work the combine harvester but under no circumstances the two, lest they sought to escape. Soldiers were on duty.

Larger Context

The boundary between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic ran 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the northern part to here in the south. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the greatest, but in excess of double the number persons (more than 300) died seeking to pass over it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern tells me that 95 percent of escape attempts did not succeed.

Community Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were agricultural workers or skilled workers, who accommodated to dwelling in the ambiguous area between two political systems by staying low-profile and caring for their farms. They nor did they backed the socialist government nor fought it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Interest

For visitors, however, the village became a kind of destination. About 15k came to visit every year, viewing tools in hand, to look – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the TV show, a TV series about a made-up hamlet like Mödlareuth, led to fresh attention.

Modern Evolutions

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, store, film screening area and large car park – is likely to