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An creek so shallow you hardly got your ankles wet divided a village for over four decades. Due to a quirk of geography, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by evergreen groves, pastures and stunning vistas, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the misfortune to straddle Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a frontier that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a wall. United States military personnel nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Several months after their own barrier was breached, and even before their nation had reunified in 1990, a assembly of villagers started commemorating their heritage. The project is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth remembrance of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition was not completely prepared. Addressing the villagers who endured the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an brutal split, which pulled households asunder and turned local residents into strangers.”

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

Historical Origins

Even at its creation in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for bestowing all its men the designation Heinrich and counting them in order by birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the quirk did not stand in the way of the residents drinking in the very same tavern, attending the identical church and placing their children to the same educational institution.

Following WWII Separation

Then came the second world war. As soon as they appeared, the Russian troops erected timber poles by the brook. For a twelve months they occupied the complete community, establishing their control center in a building on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers urged them to withdraw across the brook. For a while, locals could still hop over, though as restrictions became stricter they were required to present identification, despite the fact that all knew who they were, and to return at after dark.

Increase of Frontier Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was constructed, with landmines, tank traps and guard posts. The locals could continue to view each other by ascending hills, but on the eastern side signaling and shouting were prohibited. A female resident was placed on a Stasi monitoring list for responding “same to you” to a western villager who wished her “happy new year”.

Exhibition Center Establishment

It was related to me narratives such as these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated much of his working life developing it. Residents were polled early on about how how long a section wall they wished to preserve. They selected a stretch on the Bavarian edge, close to where a villager succeeded to flee in the middle of the night with a climbing device, after which the border was significantly fortified.

Preserved Structures

Two observation towers are preserved in addition to a series of displays showing the most significant dates in the community’s chronicle. As we move, Lebergen details the restrictions: no one could come within 5km of the boundary. Farmers required special permission to care for their crops; the husband or wife could use the combine harvester but not both, lest they sought to flee. Armed guards stood watch.

Larger Background

The border between Western Germany and the East Germany ran 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to here in the south. Berlin is recalled and documented the greatest, but over twice as many people (exceeding 300) were killed seeking to pass over it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern tells me that almost all of efforts to cross failed.

Community Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or skilled workers, who accommodated to dwelling in the grey zone between 2 political systems by staying low-profile and looking after their land. They did not supported the East German authorities nor opposed it, the director states.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the village became a type of site of interest. About 15k visited every year, viewing tools in hand, to gawp – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after merger, the television series, a broadcast production about a fictional hamlet like Mödlareuth, caused new curiosity.

Present-Day Evolutions

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, store, cinema room and sizable parking lot – is expected to