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An stream so narrow you barely got your ankles wet split a community for over four decades of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by evergreen groves, pastures and stunning vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a boundary that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a partition. US troops called it Little Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

Months after their own wall was breached, and even before their country had become one in 1990, a group of villagers set about documenting their heritage. The effort is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the collapse of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition was not completely ready. Telling the locals who experienced the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an cruel division, which tore households into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an cruel division, which ripped households asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Historical Origins

Starting at its founding in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house best known for bestowing all its men the name Heinrich and counting them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the quirk never stood in the manner of the locals gathering in the same tavern, attending the identical religious building and placing their young ones to the same learning center.

Following WWII Split

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. Immediately after they arrived, the Soviet forces put up timber poles by the stream. For a annual period they occupied the entire hamlet, setting up their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans urged them to withdraw to the other side of the brook. For a while, villagers could continue to jump across, though as controls became stricter they were obliged to display ID, despite the fact that everyone was aware who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Increase of Border Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was erected, with mines, tank traps and watchtowers. The villagers could continue to see each other by scaling hills, but on the east side waving and calling out were forbidden. A female resident was placed on a Stasi surveillance list for replying “likewise” to a western local who wished her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

I was told narratives such as these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated much of his occupational time building it. Villagers were consulted early on about how much structure they desired to maintain. They chose a section on the Bavarian perimeter, near where one of their own succeeded to flee in the dead of night with a scaling tool, after which the border was heavily reinforced.

Conserved Buildings

Two observation towers are conserved alongside a set of tableaux showing the most impactful events in the village’s history. As we stroll, the director enumerates the rules: no one could approach 5km of the boundary. Farmers required particular approval to look after their fields; the husband or wife could operate the harvesting machine but not the pair, lest they sought to flee. Armed guards stood watch.

Wider Background

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the GDR extended nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the north to the south in the south. Berlin is remembered and honored the most frequently, but in excess of double the number people (more than 300) died attempting to pass over it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. the director informs me that 95 percent of efforts to cross were unsuccessful.

Village Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or skilled workers, who accommodated to dwelling in the uncertain territory between 2 ideological spheres by staying low-profile and looking after their fields. They neither backed the socialist government nor fought it, Lebegern states.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a type of site of interest. About 15k visited annually, viewing tools in hand, to stare – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

25 years after merger, Tannbach, a television program about a fictional village resembling Mödlareuth, caused renewed interest.

Modern Evolutions

The launch of the new museum – with a coffee shop, shop, cinema room and big car park – is expected to