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An stream so narrow you barely got your feet wet divided a settlement for over four decades. Due to a quirk of geography, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by pine forests, pastures and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to span Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a frontier that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a wall. United States military personnel called it Small Berlin.

Preserving the Past

Months after their own division was torn down, and before their state had reunified in 1990, a assembly of villagers began commemorating their heritage. The project is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the fall of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was formally opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not entirely prepared. Telling the villagers who lived through the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an cruel separation, which tore households into pieces and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which tore households apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Historical Background

Even at its founding in 1810, the hamlet cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most renowned for assigning all its male members the designation Heinrich and labeling them in order by birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the quirk never stood in the path of the inhabitants drinking in the identical tavern, going to the very same religious building and sending their children to the identical learning center.

Post-War Separation

Then came the second world war. The moment they appeared, the Russians installed wood stakes by the creek. For a twelve months they took over the whole village, creating their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers convinced them to retreat to the other side of the stream. For a time, residents could continue to cross over, though as restrictions became stricter they were forced to show identification, even though everyone was aware who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Escalation of Border Controls

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was constructed, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The villagers could still see each other by climbing hills, but on the eastern side signaling and yelling were banned. A female resident was put on a Stasi surveillance list for answering “same to you” to a western villager who said her “good new year”.

Museum Development

I heard accounts like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has devoted much of his working life creating it. Locals were asked early on about how how long a section wall they wanted to keep. They opted for a section on the Bavarian fringe, adjacent to where one of their own managed to flee in the darkest hours with a ladder, after which the border was substantially fortified.

Preserved Structures

2 guard towers are preserved in addition to a set of exhibits illustrating the most impactful dates in the hamlet’s past. As we walk, Robert Lebegern enumerates the regulations: no one could get closer than 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain particular approval to tend to their produce; the partner could use the combine harvester but never the two, for fear that they attempted to make a run for it. Military personnel stood watch.

Broader Background

The border 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 recalled and memorialised the most frequently, but over two times more people (more than 300) died seeking to traverse it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. Lebegern tells me that almost all of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Community Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or artisans, who adapted to living in the uncertain territory between 2 political systems by staying low-profile and looking after their land. They neither backed the socialist government nor opposed it, the director clarifies.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a type of destination. Roughly fifteen thousand visited annually, viewing tools in possession, to stare – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after unification, Tannbach, a television program about a imaginary village resembling Mödlareuth, led to renewed curiosity.

Modern Changes

The inauguration of the new museum – with a cafe, shop, cinema room and large car park – is expected to