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An creek so shallow you barely got your ankles wet divided a community for over four decades worth of time. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by pine forests, fields and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the bad luck to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a border that was established first by a enclosure and then by a wall. American soldiers dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating History

Several months after their own wall was torn down, and prior to their nation had become one in 1990, a collection of residents set about documenting their history. The effort is about to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was publicly opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display wasn’t quite ready. Speaking to the residents who endured the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an brutal separation, which pulled families apart and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an cruel split, which pulled families asunder and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Historical Background

Even at its creation in 1810, the village cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a royal family most famous for assigning all its male members the title Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the oddity did not stand in the path of the locals socializing in the identical tavern, going to the very same religious building and sending their kids to the same school.

Following WWII Split

Subsequently occurred the second world war. As soon as they came, the Soviet forces erected wood stakes by the brook. For a year they took over the complete village, creating their control center in a building on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces urged them to retreat back over the brook. For a period, villagers could continue to cross over, though as limitations became stricter they were forced to display identification, although each person was aware who they were, and to return at night.

Intensification of Border Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official closing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was built, with mines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The villagers could still see each other by scaling elevations, but on the Soviet side waving and shouting were forbidden. A female resident was added to a East German secret police surveillance list for answering “same to you” to a Bavarian local who said her “good new year”.

Museum Development

I heard accounts such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a significant portion of his occupational time developing it. Villagers were consulted early on about how what length of barrier they wished to keep. They chose a section on the Bavarian perimeter, adjacent to where a villager succeeded to escape in the middle of the night with a ladder, subsequently the border was significantly reinforced.

Conserved Buildings

A pair of guard towers are maintained alongside a set of exhibits depicting the most impactful events in the village’s history. As we walk, Lebergen details the regulations: nobody could approach 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers had to obtain particular approval to look after their fields; the partner could operate the agricultural equipment but never the two, for fear that they attempted to make a run for it. Soldiers stood watch.

Larger Perspective

The frontier between West Germany and the East Germany ran 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most, but over double the number persons (exceeding 300) died trying to traverse it in rural areas than in the big city. Lebegern tells me that 95% of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Hamlet Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or craftsmen, who adapted to dwelling in the uncertain territory between 2 ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and looking after their land. They nor did they supported the socialist government nor opposed it, the director clarifies.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a type of site of interest. Approximately fifteen thousand came to visit annually, viewing tools in possession, to look – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the TV show, a television program about a made-up village similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh interest.

Present-Day Changes

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, shop, film screening area and large car park – is expected to