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An stream so low you barely got your ankles wet divided a settlement for more than four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of topography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by evergreen groves, fields and breathtaking views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to span Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a boundary that was established first by a barrier and then by a partition. American soldiers dubbed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Several months after their own barrier was opened, and before their state had unified again in 1990, a assembly of local people set about commemorating their history. The work is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the demolition of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display was not completely prepared. Addressing the residents who endured the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were observers of an cruel split, which ripped households into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal division, which pulled families apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

Past Background

Even at its founding in 1810, the hamlet cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for giving all its men the name Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the crowd, the oddity never stood in the path of the locals drinking in the identical pub, visiting the same place of worship and sending their young ones to the very same school.

Post-War Separation

Subsequently occurred the second world war. The moment they arrived, the Russian troops put up timber poles by the creek. For a twelve months they occupied the complete community, creating their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers persuaded them to withdraw to the other side of the creek. For a time, villagers could continue to jump across, though as controls tightened they were required to display identity papers, despite the fact that everyone knew who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Escalation of Frontier Measures

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was erected, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The locals could still view each other by climbing elevations, but on the Soviet side signaling and yelling were forbidden. One woman was added to a East German secret police surveillance list for responding “back at you” to a West German resident who said her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

It was related to me stories like these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent much of his professional career creating it. Residents were asked early on about how how long a section wall they wanted to maintain. They chose a stretch on the western edge, near where one of their own managed to get away in the dead of night with a climbing device, following which the boundary was significantly reinforced.

Preserved Buildings

A pair of guard towers are conserved alongside a set of displays showing the most significant moments in the village’s history. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern details the regulations: nobody could approach 5km of the boundary. Rural residents required special permission to look after their produce; the spouse could work the agricultural equipment but not the pair, for fear that they tried to escape. Armed guards kept guard.

Wider Context

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the greatest, but in excess of two times more people (more than 300) died attempting to cross it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Lebegern reminds me that almost all of efforts to cross did not succeed.

Village Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or artisans, who adjusted to living in the uncertain territory between two political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their fields. They nor did they supported the socialist government nor resisted it, the director clarifies.

Interest

For visitors, however, the village became a kind of destination. Roughly 15,000 visited every year, binoculars in hand, to look – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after unification, the TV show, a TV series about a fictional hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in new curiosity.

Modern Evolutions

The opening of the new museum – with a restaurant, shop, cinema room and sizable parking lot – is probable to