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An stream so shallow you barely got your feet wet divided a community for in excess of four decades of time. Because of a chance of geography, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by evergreen groves, meadows and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a frontier that was marked first by a barrier and then by a partition. American soldiers nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

Months after their own division was opened, and even before their state had unified again in 1990, a group of villagers set about commemorating their history. The project is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not completely finished. Speaking to the residents who experienced the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an brutal division, which tore households apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an cruel separation, which ripped households asunder and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Historical Context

Even at its founding in 1810, the village straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for giving all its male members the title Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the quirk was never an obstacle in the way of the inhabitants socializing in the same tavern, going to the identical church and placing their children to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Split

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. As soon as they arrived, the Russians erected wooden posts by the creek. For a twelve months they occupied the entire community, creating their control center in a dwelling on the western side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans convinced them to withdraw to the other side of the stream. For a period, residents could still cross over, though as restrictions increased they were forced to show ID, although all was aware who they were, and to come back at evening.

Increase of Boundary Controls

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was erected, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The locals could still view each other by climbing slopes, but on the eastern side waving and calling out were prohibited. One woman was placed on a Stasi watch list for replying “likewise” to a West German local who greeted her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

I heard stories like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted much of his professional career developing it. Villagers were polled at an early stage about how much structure they desired to maintain. They selected a section on the west perimeter, near where a local resident managed to flee in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, subsequently the border was substantially reinforced.

Preserved Installations

A pair of watchtowers are conserved together with a collection of exhibits showing the most significant moments in the village’s past. As we move, Lebergen details the rules: nobody could get closer than 5km of the border. Agricultural workers needed special permission to tend to their produce; the spouse could use the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances both, for fear that they tried to make a run for it. Armed guards kept guard.

Wider Background

The border between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched 1,400km, from the northern sea in the northern part to this location in the south. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most, but more than two times more individuals (more than 300) died attempting to cross it in rural areas than in the big city. the director tells me that 95% of efforts to cross were unsuccessful.

Community Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who adjusted to dwelling in the grey zone between a pair of political systems by avoiding attention and looking after their farms. They nor did they endorsed the East German authorities nor opposed it, the director states.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the settlement became a kind of pilgrimage. About 15,000 came to see every year, optical devices in their hands, to gawp – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

25 years after unification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a fictional hamlet like Mödlareuth, resulted in new attention.

Present-Day Changes

The inauguration of the new museum – with a restaurant, boutique, movie theater and big vehicle area – is expected to