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A creek so shallow you barely got your feet wet separated a settlement for over four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by coniferous woods, meadows and spectacular views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to cross Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a boundary that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a wall. US troops dubbed it Small Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

A few months after their own division was opened, and prior to their state had unified again in 1990, a assembly of villagers began documenting their heritage. The project is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the collapse of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was officially inaugurated by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the display was not completely finished. Addressing the villagers who lived through the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an inhuman division, which ripped relatives apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel division, which pulled relatives apart and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

Bygone Background

Right from its establishment in 1810, the village spanned the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage best known for assigning all its male descendants the name Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier told the crowd, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the path of the locals socializing in the identical tavern, attending the identical place of worship and sending their kids to the same school.

Post-War Separation

Then came the global conflict. Immediately after they appeared, the Russians erected timber poles by the brook. For a year they occupied the complete village, setting up their headquarters in a building on the Bavarian side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to withdraw to the other side of the stream. For a period, villagers could continue to cross over, though as restrictions increased they were forced to present ID, despite the fact that everyone was aware who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Intensification of Frontier Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was built, with mines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The residents could still observe each other by scaling hills, but on the eastern side waving and shouting were forbidden. A female resident was placed on a GDR intelligence monitoring list for replying “likewise” to a Bavarian local who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

I heard accounts including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a large part of his working life building it. Residents were asked early on about how much structure they wished to keep. They opted for a section on the Bavarian fringe, near where a villager was able to get away in the darkest hours with a ladder, subsequently the border was significantly strengthened.

Preserved Buildings

A pair of observation towers are maintained in addition to a collection of tableaux showing the most dramatic dates in the community’s history. As we move, the director lists the restrictions: nobody could get closer than 5km of the border. Farmers had to obtain particular approval to care for their crops; the partner could use the combine harvester but never both, lest they tried to flee. Military personnel were on duty.

Wider Background

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the GDR extended 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the north to the south in the south. Berlin is commemorated and honored the most frequently, but more than double the number people (well over 300) were killed seeking to cross it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Lebegern informs me that 95% of attempts to flee failed.

Hamlet Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were agricultural workers or artisans, who accommodated to living in the uncertain territory between two political systems by avoiding attention and caring for their farms. They did not endorsed the East German authorities nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern states.

Interest

For tourists, however, the hamlet became a sort of pilgrimage. Approximately fifteen thousand came to see annually, viewing tools in possession, to stare – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after reunification, Tannbach, a TV series about a fictional community like Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed curiosity.

Modern Developments

The launch of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, shop, film screening area and large car park – is probable to