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A creek so shallow you scarcely got your ankles wet divided a settlement for more than four decades worth of time. Because of a chance of topography, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by evergreen groves, fields and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the center of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a border that was marked first by a barrier and then by a partition. US troops dubbed it Little Berlin.

Preserving History

Months after their own barrier was breached, and before their country had unified again in 1990, a collection of local people set about memorialising their past. The work is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the fall of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was publicly opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not entirely ready. Telling the villagers who endured the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which ripped families into pieces and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which pulled relatives asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Historical Context

Right from its establishment in 1810, the village straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for bestowing all its men the name Heinrich and numbering them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the residents gathering in the very same pub, visiting the same church and placing their kids to the same school.

Post-War Division

Next arrived the second world war. Immediately after they arrived, the Soviet forces erected timber poles by the stream. For a twelve months they occupied the entire hamlet, setting up their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers persuaded them to pull back back over the creek. For a time, locals could still cross over, though as controls tightened they were forced to show identification, although all was aware who they were, and to come back at evening.

Intensification of Border Measures

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was constructed, with landmines, tank traps and observation points. The locals could continue to view each other by scaling hills, but on the Soviet side waving and calling out were banned. A local woman was put on a GDR intelligence watch list for responding “likewise” to a western local who wished her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

It was related to me stories such as these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a significant portion of his occupational time building it. Residents were consulted at an early stage about how what length of wall they wished to keep. They selected a portion on the west fringe, near where a local resident was able to get away in the middle of the night with a ladder, after which the border was substantially reinforced.

Conserved Structures

2 guard towers are conserved in addition to a series of displays showing the most dramatic moments in the village’s history. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern enumerates the rules: no one could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Rural residents required special permission to tend to their fields; the spouse could work the agricultural equipment but never the pair, lest they tried to flee. Soldiers kept guard.

Larger Context

The border between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic extended nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and honored the most frequently, but in excess of twice as many individuals (well over 300) were killed attempting to traverse it in provincial zones than in the urban center. the director informs me that 95% of attempts to flee failed.

Hamlet Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who accommodated to residing in the uncertain territory between 2 political systems by keeping their heads down and tending to their fields. They nor did they supported the East German authorities nor fought it, Lebegern states.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a sort of pilgrimage. Approximately 15,000 visited every year, viewing tools in hand, to look – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after merger, Tannbach, a TV series about a made-up hamlet similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed interest.

Modern Evolutions

The launch of the new museum – with a cafe, shop, movie theater and large vehicle area – is likely to