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A brook so narrow you barely got your ankles wet divided a settlement for over four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by evergreen groves, pastures and stunning vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to cross Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a border that was marked first by a barrier and then by a wall. United States military personnel called it Small Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

Several months after their own wall was opened, and prior to their nation had become one in 1990, a group of residents started documenting their history. The project is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth remembrance of the demolition of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show was not entirely prepared. Speaking to the residents who experienced the former times, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an cruel split, which ripped relatives asunder and turned neighbors into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which tore relatives into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Historical Background

Right from its creation in 1810, the village straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for bestowing all its male members the name Heinrich and counting them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the oddity never stood in the path of the locals drinking in the very same pub, visiting the same place of worship and enrolling their children to the very same school.

Following WWII Separation

Next arrived the global conflict. Immediately after they appeared, the Russian troops installed wood stakes by the brook. For a annual period they occupied the complete hamlet, creating their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers urged them to retreat back over the stream. For a time, residents could still cross over, though as controls became stricter they were required to display identity papers, despite the fact that all understood who they were, and to return at night.

Escalation of Boundary Controls

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was built, with explosives, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The villagers could still observe each other by ascending slopes, but on the eastern side signaling and yelling were forbidden. One woman was added to a Stasi monitoring list for replying “likewise” to a Bavarian resident who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Establishment

I was told narratives like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a large part of his occupational time building it. Villagers were consulted at an early stage about how how long a section wall they wanted to preserve. They selected a portion on the Bavarian edge, adjacent to where a local resident succeeded to get away in the middle of the night with a ladder, subsequently the boundary was substantially fortified.

Preserved Installations

2 guard towers are conserved together with a set of displays showing the most dramatic events in the village’s past. As we walk, the director lists the restrictions: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the border. Farmers required specific authorization to care for their fields; the partner could operate the harvesting machine but never both, lest they tried to make a run for it. Armed guards were on duty.

Wider Perspective

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic extended 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and documented the most, but in excess of two times more individuals (exceeding 300) lost their lives trying to pass over it in provincial zones than in the big city. the director informs me that 95% of attempts to flee failed.

Hamlet Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or artisans, who adjusted to living in the grey zone between two belief systems by keeping their heads down and caring for their farms. They nor did they supported the East German authorities nor resisted it, Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a kind of site of interest. About fifteen thousand came to see each year, optical devices in possession, to look – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

25 years after reunification, the television series, a TV series about a made-up hamlet like Mödlareuth, led to renewed interest.

Present-Day Changes

The opening of the new museum – with a coffee shop, store, cinema room and big parking lot – is expected to