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An brook so low you barely got your ankles wet split a village for more than four decades of time. By an accident of landscape, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by evergreen groves, pastures and spectacular views, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a border that was established first by a fence and then by a wall. United States military personnel dubbed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Months after their own wall was breached, and prior to their nation had unified again in 1990, a collection of residents began documenting their past. The project is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was officially launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not completely finished. Addressing the residents who endured the former times, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an cruel separation, which ripped families apart and turned neighbours into strangers.”

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

Historical Background

Starting at its founding in 1810, the hamlet cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for bestowing all its men the designation Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the oddity never stood in the path of the locals gathering in the very same inn, going to the identical place of worship and enrolling their young ones to the identical learning center.

After the War Division

Then came the second world war. The moment they came, the Russian troops erected wooden posts by the stream. For a twelve months they occupied the whole community, establishing their headquarters in a dwelling on the western side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces urged them to retreat to the other side of the stream. For a time, locals could still cross over, though as limitations increased they were forced to present identification, despite the fact that each person understood who they were, and to return at after dark.

Increase of Boundary Measures

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal closing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was built, with landmines, tank traps and watchtowers. The locals could still see each other by climbing hills, but on the Soviet side signaling and calling out were banned. A local woman was placed on a East German secret police monitoring list for answering “likewise” to a Bavarian local who said her “good new year”.

Exhibition Center Creation

I heard stories like these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a significant portion of his working life building it. Residents were asked early on about how how long a section structure they desired to maintain. They chose a section on the western fringe, near where one of their own managed to get away in the dead of night with a climbing device, following which the boundary was heavily fortified.

Maintained Buildings

2 watchtowers are maintained together with a set of exhibits illustrating the most impactful moments in the village’s history. As we walk, Robert Lebegern details the restrictions: nobody could get closer than 5km of the border. Agricultural workers required special permission to look after their produce; the partner could use the combine harvester but never both, in case they attempted to make a run for it. Armed guards kept guard.

Wider Context

The frontier between West Germany and the GDR stretched nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is remembered and documented the greatest, but over twice as many persons (exceeding 300) lost their lives attempting to pass over it in rural areas than in the metropolis. the director tells me that almost all of escape attempts failed.

Community Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or artisans, who adapted to living in the ambiguous area between two political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their fields. They nor did they supported the socialist government nor fought it, Lebegern states.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the settlement became a kind of site of interest. About 15k came to visit every year, optical devices in possession, to gawp – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty five years after reunification, the television series, a TV series about a imaginary community resembling Mödlareuth, caused fresh interest.

Current Developments

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, store, film screening area and large parking lot – is likely to