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A stream so shallow you scarcely got your feet wet divided a community for in excess of four decades. Due to a quirk of topography, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by pine forests, fields and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a boundary that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a partition. United States military personnel dubbed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating History

Months after their own barrier was torn down, and prior to their country had reunified in 1990, a group of local people started commemorating their past. The work is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition was not entirely finished. Telling the locals who lived through the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an brutal division, which tore relatives asunder and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an brutal division, which tore households into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Historical Context

Even at its establishment in 1810, the village cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most famous for giving all its men the name Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the oddity never stood in the way of the locals drinking in the same tavern, visiting the identical place of worship and sending their kids to the same school.

Following WWII Separation

Next arrived the second world war. As soon as they appeared, the Soviet forces erected wooden posts by the brook. For a annual period they occupied the complete village, establishing their control center in a house on the western side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers urged them to retreat back over the stream. For a time, residents could continue to jump across, though as limitations became stricter they were required to present ID, despite the fact that everyone knew who they were, and to return at after dark.

Escalation of Border Measures

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was built, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The locals could still observe each other by climbing elevations, but on the Soviet side signaling and calling out were banned. A local woman was added to a East German secret police monitoring list for replying “likewise” to a Bavarian villager who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Exhibition Center Creation

I heard stories such as these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a large part of his occupational time developing it. Locals were consulted early on about how much structure they desired to maintain. They chose a stretch on the Bavarian perimeter, adjacent to where a villager succeeded to escape in the middle of the night with a climbing device, subsequently the border was heavily fortified.

Preserved Structures

A pair of guard towers are preserved in addition to a set of displays depicting the most impactful events in the hamlet’s history. As we stroll, the director lists the restrictions: not a single person could approach 5km of the frontier. Rural residents had to obtain particular approval to tend to their crops; the partner could use the combine harvester but under no circumstances the two, in case they tried to escape. Armed guards stood watch.

Broader Background

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic ran 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is commemorated and documented the most frequently, but more than two times more individuals (more than 300) were killed trying to traverse it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Lebegern informs me that almost all of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Community Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or artisans, who adjusted to residing in the uncertain territory between two political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their fields. They neither endorsed the socialist government nor fought it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the village became a kind of site of interest. Approximately fifteen thousand came to visit each year, viewing tools in their hands, to gawp – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

25 years after unification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a imaginary village like Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh interest.

Present-Day Changes

The launch of the new museum – with a cafe, shop, cinema room and large vehicle area – is probable to