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An creek so low you barely got your feet wet separated a settlement for over four decades of time. By an accident of landscape, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, fields and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the center of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to straddle Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a boundary that was marked first by a barrier and then by a barricade. United States military personnel dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

Several months after their own division was breached, and even before their country had become one in 1990, a group of residents set about commemorating their heritage. The work is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the collapse of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was formally inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not completely prepared. Telling the locals who lived through the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an cruel split, which pulled families asunder and turned neighbors into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal split, which ripped families asunder and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Historical Background

Right from its establishment in 1810, the community spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most famous for assigning all its men the title Heinrich and counting them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the peculiarity never stood in the way of the inhabitants gathering in the very same pub, visiting the identical place of worship and enrolling their young ones to the identical learning center.

Post-War Division

Then came the second world war. As soon as they appeared, the Russians installed timber poles by the stream. For a twelve months they occupied the complete community, establishing their command in a house on the Bavarian side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers convinced them to withdraw across the creek. For a period, residents could still hop over, though as limitations increased they were required to show ID, despite the fact that everyone was aware who they were, and to go back at night.

Escalation of Frontier Measures

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official sealing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was erected, with landmines, tank traps and guard posts. The residents could still view each other by climbing hills, but on the east side waving and calling out were forbidden. A local woman was added to a Stasi monitoring list for replying “likewise” to a Bavarian villager who greeted her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

It was related to me accounts including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent much of his occupational time developing it. Residents were consulted in the initial phases about how how long a section barrier they wanted to maintain. They opted for a portion on the west fringe, near where a villager succeeded to flee in the middle of the night with a ladder, following which the border was heavily reinforced.

Conserved Installations

A pair of watchtowers are conserved in addition to a series of displays showing the most dramatic moments in the hamlet’s history. As we move, Lebergen enumerates the regulations: nobody could come within 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers needed particular approval to care for their fields; the partner could use the harvesting machine but not both, for fear that they attempted to flee. Military personnel were on duty.

Broader Perspective

The border between the Federal Republic and the East Germany ran 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic Sea in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the greatest, but over double the number people (more than 300) lost their lives seeking to cross it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern informs me that almost all of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Community Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who adjusted to living in the ambiguous area between a pair of belief systems by staying low-profile and looking after their farms. They nor did they endorsed the socialist government nor opposed it, the director explains.

Visitors

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

25 years after reunification, the TV show, a TV series about a made-up hamlet similar to Mödlareuth, caused new curiosity.

Modern Changes

The opening of the new museum – with a coffee shop, boutique, cinema room and sizable car park – is probable to