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A brook so shallow you barely got your feet wet split a community for over four decades of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement encircled by pine forests, meadows and breathtaking views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to straddle Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was established first by a fence and then by a barricade. US troops nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating History

A few months after their own wall was opened, and even before their country had unified again in 1990, a group of local people started memorialising their heritage. The project is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the demolition of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not completely finished. Telling the residents who experienced the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which pulled families into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which pulled households apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

Bygone Background

Even at its establishment in 1810, the community cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most renowned for giving all its men the designation Heinrich and labeling them in order by birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the inhabitants gathering in the very same inn, going to the very same religious building and placing their kids to the identical educational institution.

Post-War Separation

Subsequently occurred the second world war. As soon as they appeared, the Russians put up wood stakes by the stream. For a annual period they occupied the whole community, establishing their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces convinced them to retreat to the other side of the creek. For a period, villagers could still cross over, though as restrictions increased they were required to show identification, despite the fact that each person was aware who they were, and to come back at evening.

Increase of Boundary Controls

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was built, with explosives, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The residents could still observe each other by scaling elevations, but on the east side waving and calling out were forbidden. One woman was placed on a GDR intelligence monitoring list for answering “same to you” to a western resident who said her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

I heard stories like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a large part of his working life creating it. Villagers were asked in the initial phases about how much wall they desired to maintain. They opted for a portion on the Bavarian edge, adjacent to where a villager succeeded to escape in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, after which the frontier was significantly strengthened.

Preserved Structures

A pair of observation towers are preserved alongside a series of displays depicting the most impactful events in the village’s history. As we walk, Robert Lebegern details the regulations: nobody could come within 5km of the border. Agricultural workers needed special permission to care for their crops; the partner could operate the combine harvester but not both, for fear that they sought to flee. Soldiers were on duty.

Wider Perspective

The border between West Germany and the East Germany stretched 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most frequently, but over two times more people (more than 300) lost their lives seeking to pass over it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. Lebegern reminds me that almost all of efforts to cross did not succeed.

Community Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or craftsmen, who adjusted to residing in the ambiguous area between two political systems by keeping their heads down and caring for their land. They did not supported the socialist government nor resisted it, the director clarifies.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a sort of pilgrimage. Approximately 15,000 came to visit every year, optical devices in hand, to look – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after unification, the television series, a broadcast production about a fictional hamlet like Mödlareuth, caused new attention.

Present-Day Changes

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, boutique, movie theater and big car park – is probable to