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A brook so narrow you barely got your ankles wet separated a community for in excess of four decades. By an accident of topography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by pine forests, fields and stunning scenery, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to straddle Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a border that was marked first by a fence and then by a wall. American soldiers nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Preserving the Past

Months after their own division was opened, and even before their state had reunified in 1990, a collection of residents set about commemorating their heritage. The effort is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the fall of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was publicly inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show wasn’t quite ready. Addressing the locals who endured the past era, Steinmeier remarked: “You were bystanders of an brutal division, which pulled relatives apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were observers of an brutal separation, which ripped families apart and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

Past Background

Right from its creation in 1810, the village spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most famous for assigning all its male descendants the title Heinrich and counting them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the peculiarity never stood in the way of the residents gathering in the very same pub, going to the identical church and enrolling their young ones to the identical learning center.

Following WWII Division

Next arrived the World War II. The moment they arrived, the Russians erected wood stakes by the brook. For a annual period they seized the whole hamlet, creating their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers urged them to withdraw back over the creek. For a time, residents could still hop over, though as restrictions became stricter they were required to present identification, even though everyone was aware who they were, and to return at night.

Intensification of Boundary Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was built, with landmines, tank traps and watchtowers. The villagers could still observe each other by scaling slopes, but on the Soviet side gesturing and yelling were prohibited. One woman was placed on a Stasi monitoring list for replying “back at you” to a western local who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I heard narratives like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has devoted much of his working life creating it. Locals were asked early on about how much structure they wished to keep. They opted for a section on the west perimeter, close to where a local resident succeeded to flee in the middle of the night with a climbing device, following which the frontier was substantially fortified.

Preserved Installations

2 guard towers are conserved together with a series of displays showing the most dramatic events in the hamlet’s history. As we move, the director details the restrictions: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Farmers had to obtain particular approval to look after their crops; the partner could use the combine harvester but under no circumstances the pair, in case they tried to escape. Armed guards kept guard.

Larger Context

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the East Germany stretched 1,400km, from the northern sea in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the greatest, but more than double the number persons (well over 300) were killed seeking to cross it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95% of efforts to cross did not succeed.

Village Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or artisans, who accommodated to living in the uncertain territory between two political systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their fields. They neither endorsed the socialist government nor fought it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a kind of site of interest. About 15,000 came to visit every year, optical devices in their hands, to gawp – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

25 years after reunification, the television series, a broadcast production about a fictional village resembling Mödlareuth, caused new attention.

Present-Day Changes

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, shop, film screening area and large parking lot – is likely to