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An creek so shallow you scarcely got your ankles wet divided a community for over four decades of time. By an accident of geography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, meadows and stunning views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to span the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a frontier that was established first by a fence and then by a barricade. United States military personnel called it Mini Berlin.

Memorialising History

Months after their own division was opened, and prior to their country had become one in 1990, a assembly of local people set about memorialising their history. The project is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was officially opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show wasn’t quite prepared. Speaking to the locals who lived through the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an inhuman division, which pulled relatives into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an inhuman split, which pulled families apart and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

Bygone Origins

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the community cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family best known for assigning all its male members the designation Heinrich and labeling them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier told the audience, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the way of the inhabitants gathering in the very same inn, going to the same place of worship and enrolling their kids to the same school.

After the War Separation

Then came the second world war. Immediately after they arrived, the Russians put up wooden posts by the brook. For a annual period they seized the entire hamlet, setting up their command in a house on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces persuaded them to withdraw to the other side of the stream. For a time, villagers could still jump across, though as restrictions tightened they were forced to present ID, despite the fact that everyone understood who they were, and to return at night.

Escalation of Border Measures

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was built, with explosives, vehicle barriers and observation points. The locals could still see each other by ascending slopes, but on the east side gesturing and yelling were forbidden. A female resident was put on a East German secret police monitoring list for replying “likewise” to a western local who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Development

I heard stories like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has devoted a large part of his professional career creating it. Residents were polled in the initial phases about how what length of structure they wished to preserve. They selected a section on the west perimeter, adjacent to where a villager succeeded to escape in the middle of the night with a climbing device, after which the border was heavily strengthened.

Conserved Structures

A pair of observation towers are maintained in addition to a series of displays depicting the most significant events in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern lists the regulations: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Rural residents needed special permission to look after their crops; the spouse could use the harvesting machine but under no circumstances both, for fear that they attempted to escape. Military personnel were on duty.

Wider Context

The boundary between West Germany and the East Germany extended 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the north to here in the south. Berlin is remembered and documented the greatest, but more than double the number persons (exceeding 300) were killed trying to cross it in rural areas than in the big city. Lebegern reminds me that 95% of escape attempts failed.

Village Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who adapted to residing in the uncertain territory between two political systems by avoiding attention and tending to their farms. They nor did they backed the communist regime nor fought it, the director clarifies.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the settlement became a sort of pilgrimage. About 15k came to visit each year, viewing tools in hand, to look – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

25 years after merger, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a imaginary village like Mödlareuth, led to renewed interest.

Modern Developments

The launch of the new museum – with a cafe, boutique, film screening area and sizable parking lot – is likely to