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A stream so shallow you barely got your ankles wet separated a settlement for more than four decades of time. By an accident of geography, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by pine forests, pastures and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a frontier that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a wall. American soldiers called it Small Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Months after their own barrier was breached, and even before their state had reunified in 1990, a collection of residents set about commemorating their history. The project is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not entirely prepared. Speaking to the residents who experienced the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which pulled relatives apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an inhuman division, which pulled families into pieces and turned local residents into aliens.”

Historical Background

Starting at its creation in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most famous for bestowing all its male descendants the name Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the oddity was never an obstacle in the manner of the locals drinking in the same pub, visiting the very same place of worship and sending their children to the same school.

Following WWII Separation

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. The moment they arrived, the Soviet forces erected wooden posts by the stream. For a twelve months they seized the complete community, creating their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The Americans convinced them to pull back back over the creek. For a while, residents could still cross over, though as restrictions tightened they were forced to show ID, even though everyone understood who they were, and to return at evening.

Increase of Frontier Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was constructed, with explosives, tank traps and guard posts. The villagers could continue to see each other by ascending elevations, but on the eastern side gesturing and calling out were banned. A female resident was added to a East German secret police surveillance list for responding “back at you” to a West German local who said her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

I heard accounts including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a significant portion of his professional career creating it. Locals were consulted early on about how much wall they wished to preserve. They chose a section on the western perimeter, close to where a villager managed to get away in the darkest hours with a climbing device, subsequently the border was heavily strengthened.

Conserved Buildings

A pair of observation towers are conserved in addition to a set of tableaux illustrating the most dramatic dates in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we walk, Robert Lebegern enumerates the regulations: no one could approach 5km of the border. Farmers needed particular approval to tend to their crops; the partner could work the agricultural equipment but never both, lest they attempted to flee. Soldiers were on duty.

Larger Perspective

The boundary between West Germany and the GDR extended 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and documented the most frequently, but over two times more people (exceeding 300) were killed trying to traverse it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. the director informs me that 95 percent of escape attempts failed.

Hamlet Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who adjusted to living in the uncertain territory between a pair of ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and tending to their fields. They neither backed the communist regime nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a sort of destination. Roughly fifteen thousand came to visit annually, viewing tools in hand, to look – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

25 years after unification, the TV show, a broadcast production about a fictional village resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh curiosity.

Present-Day Changes

The opening of the new museum – with a cafe, store, film screening area and big vehicle area – is likely to