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An stream so shallow you scarcely got your feet wet split a community for more than four decades of time. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by evergreen groves, fields and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a frontier that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a partition. United States military personnel dubbed it Small Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

A few months after their own wall was breached, and even before their country had reunified in 1990, a group of local people started commemorating their history. The work is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was formally inaugurated by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not completely prepared. Telling the residents who lived through the past era, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an brutal division, which ripped relatives into pieces and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman separation, which tore households apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

Bygone Context

Starting at its founding in 1810, the village cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most famous for giving all its male descendants the title Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the peculiarity did not stand in the manner of the inhabitants drinking in the very same pub, visiting the same church and placing their kids to the identical learning center.

After the War Separation

Then came the global conflict. The moment they appeared, the Russian troops installed timber poles by the brook. For a twelve months they took over the complete community, setting up their control center in a house on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers persuaded them to pull back across the brook. For a time, locals could still jump across, though as limitations tightened they were forced to display identity papers, even though all was aware who they were, and to come back at night.

Escalation of Border Controls

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official closing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was constructed, with explosives, tank traps and watchtowers. The villagers could still see each other by ascending elevations, but on the Soviet side signaling and yelling were forbidden. A local woman was added to a Stasi surveillance list for replying “same to you” to a West German resident who greeted her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I heard stories like these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has devoted much of his working life building it. Villagers were consulted at an early stage about how how long a section wall they desired to keep. They opted for a section on the western fringe, near where one of their own managed to escape in the darkest hours with a ladder, following which the border was heavily fortified.

Preserved Installations

2 observation towers are preserved together with a series of exhibits illustrating the most impactful events in the village’s history. As we stroll, Lebergen enumerates the rules: no one could approach 5km of the boundary. Rural residents required particular approval to care for their crops; the spouse could work the agricultural equipment but not the pair, in case they tried to flee. Military personnel were on duty.

Larger Perspective

The frontier between West Germany and the East Germany extended 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the south. Berlin is recalled and honored the most frequently, but in excess of double the number people (more than 300) were killed seeking to pass over it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. Lebegern reminds me that 95% of escape attempts failed.

Village Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or artisans, who adjusted to living in the uncertain territory between a pair of political systems by avoiding attention and looking after their fields. They did not endorsed the communist regime nor fought it, the director clarifies.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the settlement became a kind of pilgrimage. Approximately fifteen thousand came to see each year, viewing tools in possession, to look – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after unification, the TV show, a TV series about a fictional community like Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh attention.

Modern Evolutions

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, store, cinema room and big car park – is expected to