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A creek so shallow you scarcely got your ankles wet separated a community for over four decades worth of time. By an accident of topography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by pine forests, pastures and spectacular views, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a boundary that was marked first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. United States military personnel nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating History

Several months after their own division was torn down, and prior to their state had reunified in 1990, a collection of residents started documenting their history. The work is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the demolition of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not entirely prepared. Speaking to the locals who experienced the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an cruel split, which ripped families apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an cruel division, which pulled households asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Bygone Context

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most famous for bestowing all its male members the title Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the inhabitants socializing in the same inn, visiting the very same church and sending their young ones to the same learning center.

After the War Split

Then came the World War II. The moment they appeared, the Soviet forces put up wood stakes by the brook. For a year they took over the whole village, setting up their command in a building on the western side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers persuaded them to pull back across the brook. For a while, residents could continue to cross over, though as restrictions increased they were required to present identity papers, despite the fact that all was aware who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Escalation of Frontier Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was constructed, with mines, tank traps and guard posts. The residents could still view each other by ascending elevations, but on the eastern side gesturing and calling out were forbidden. A female resident was added to a GDR intelligence watch list for responding “back at you” to a western local who greeted her “good new year”.

Museum Establishment

It was related to me narratives including these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted a large part of his occupational time developing it. Villagers were polled early on about how much structure they wished to preserve. They selected a portion on the western perimeter, adjacent to where a villager was able to flee in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, following which the frontier was significantly strengthened.

Conserved Buildings

A pair of observation towers are preserved in addition to a series of tableaux illustrating the most impactful moments in the hamlet’s history. As we stroll, Lebergen details the restrictions: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Farmers required particular approval to look after their produce; the spouse could work the combine harvester but under no circumstances both, lest they attempted to flee. Military personnel stood watch.

Broader Background

The frontier between Western Germany and the GDR extended nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and honored the most, but in excess of twice as many people (more than 300) lost their lives seeking to pass over it in provincial zones than in the urban center. the director informs me that 95 percent of escape attempts failed.

Village Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or skilled workers, who adapted to residing in the ambiguous area between a pair of political systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their fields. They neither endorsed the socialist government nor fought it, Lebegern explains.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the settlement became a kind of pilgrimage. About 15,000 came to visit every year, viewing tools in their hands, to look – and then rapidly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

25 years after merger, the television series, a broadcast production about a fictional village like Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed curiosity.

Present-Day Changes

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, store, movie theater and large parking lot – is probable to