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A creek so shallow you scarcely got your feet wet separated a village for over four decades worth of time. Because of a chance of topography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by coniferous woods, pastures and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a border that was established first by a fence and then by a partition. US troops nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

A few months after their own barrier was torn down, and prior to their country had become one in 1990, a collection of villagers began commemorating their history. The work is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the display was not entirely ready. Addressing the villagers who endured the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an brutal division, which ripped households asunder and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an cruel split, which tore relatives into pieces and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Bygone Background

Starting at its creation in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a princely house most famous for giving all its men the designation Heinrich and numbering them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the quirk did not stand in the way of the locals socializing in the same inn, going to the same place of worship and enrolling their kids to the identical educational institution.

After the War Division

Then came the World War II. As soon as they appeared, the Soviet forces erected wooden posts by the creek. For a year they seized the whole hamlet, creating their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to pull back across the creek. For a time, locals could continue to cross over, though as restrictions tightened they were required to present identity papers, despite the fact that everyone knew who they were, and to go back at evening.

Intensification of Boundary Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was erected, with explosives, vehicle barriers and observation points. The locals could still view each other by climbing hills, but on the Soviet side gesturing and calling out were forbidden. A local woman was put on a East German secret police monitoring list for answering “back at you” to a West German resident who said her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

I was told stories including these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted a large part of his professional career developing it. Villagers were polled early on about how what length of wall they wished to preserve. They selected a stretch on the west edge, near where a local resident was able to escape in the darkest hours with a ladder, after which the frontier was heavily strengthened.

Conserved Installations

A pair of observation towers are conserved in addition to a series of exhibits illustrating the most impactful moments in the village’s chronicle. As we stroll, Lebergen lists the restrictions: not a single person could approach 5km of the border. Rural residents needed specific authorization to tend to their produce; the husband or wife could work the combine harvester but under no circumstances the pair, lest they attempted to flee. Armed guards kept guard.

Broader Context

The border between the Federal Republic and the GDR extended nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and honored the most, but in excess of double the number individuals (exceeding 300) died seeking to pass over it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. the director reminds me that 95% of efforts to cross did not succeed.

Hamlet Existence

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were rural laborers or craftsmen, who accommodated to dwelling in the uncertain territory between two belief systems by staying low-profile and tending to their farms. They nor did they endorsed the East German authorities nor opposed it, Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the settlement became a kind of destination. About fifteen thousand came to visit annually, viewing tools in possession, to gawp – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after merger, Tannbach, a television program about a imaginary hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, led to renewed curiosity.

Modern Changes

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, boutique, film screening area and big parking lot – is expected to