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An stream so narrow you hardly got your ankles wet separated a community for more than four decades worth of time. By an accident of landscape, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by pine forests, fields and stunning scenery, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a partition. American soldiers nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Preserving the Past

Months after their own wall was torn down, and before their country had become one in 1990, a group of local people started memorialising their heritage. The effort is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was publicly inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not entirely prepared. Telling the villagers who experienced the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an cruel division, which pulled households apart and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were observers of an inhuman separation, which tore relatives into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Historical Origins

Even at its creation in 1810, the community straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for assigning all its male descendants the name Heinrich and counting them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the peculiarity did not stand in the way of the locals gathering in the very same inn, attending the same religious building and enrolling their children to the identical school.

After the War Separation

Then came the global conflict. The moment they came, the Russian troops installed timber poles by the creek. For a annual period they took over the complete village, creating their command in a dwelling on the western side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to retreat to the other side of the stream. For a time, residents could still jump across, though as restrictions increased they were obliged to show ID, although everyone understood who they were, and to return at night.

Escalation of Frontier Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was constructed, with landmines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The villagers could still see each other by ascending elevations, but on the east side signaling and calling out were forbidden. A local woman was placed on a Stasi monitoring list for responding “back at you” to a western villager who wished her “good new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

It was related to me stories like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a significant portion of his working life creating it. Residents were consulted at an early stage about how much barrier they wished to keep. They selected a portion on the west fringe, close to where a local resident was able to get away in the middle of the night with a climbing device, following which the border was substantially strengthened.

Preserved Installations

2 watchtowers are preserved in addition to a series of tableaux illustrating the most significant moments in the community’s chronicle. As we move, Robert Lebegern enumerates the regulations: not a single person could come within 5km of the boundary. Rural residents needed specific authorization to care for their crops; the husband or wife could use the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances both, for fear that they sought to make a run for it. Armed guards kept guard.

Larger Context

The boundary between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and honored the most, but over two times more individuals (well over 300) were killed trying to traverse it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95 percent of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Hamlet Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who adapted to residing in the ambiguous area between two political systems by keeping their heads down and tending to their land. They did not backed the socialist government nor opposed it, the director clarifies.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a sort of pilgrimage. Approximately 15k came to visit each year, viewing tools in possession, to gawp – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after reunification, Tannbach, a TV series about a made-up village like Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed attention.

Modern Changes

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