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An stream so shallow you barely got your feet wet divided a settlement for in excess of four decades. Because of a chance of geography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by evergreen groves, meadows and spectacular views, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to cross Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a boundary that was marked first by a fence and then by a wall. US troops nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

Months after their own division was breached, and before their state had become one in 1990, a collection of residents started memorialising their past. The project is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth remembrance of the fall of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display wasn’t quite finished. Addressing the residents who endured the past era, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an inhuman separation, which tore relatives asunder and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal split, which ripped relatives asunder and turned local residents into aliens.”

Bygone Origins

Right from its founding in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most famous for assigning all its men the title Heinrich and counting them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the oddity never stood in the path of the residents gathering in the very same tavern, visiting the very same religious building and sending their children to the identical educational institution.

After the War Split

Then came the World War II. The moment they arrived, the Russian troops put up timber poles by the creek. For a twelve months they took over the complete hamlet, setting up their headquarters in a dwelling on the western side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to pull back across the stream. For a while, villagers could still cross over, though as limitations became stricter they were obliged to display identification, despite the fact that all knew who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Increase of Frontier Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was erected, with landmines, tank traps and guard posts. The residents could continue to see each other by climbing hills, but on the east side waving and calling out were banned. One woman was placed on a Stasi watch list for answering “back at you” to a Bavarian local who wished her “happy new year”.

Museum Development

I heard stories like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent a large part of his working life developing it. Locals were consulted early on about how what length of wall they wanted to keep. They chose a portion on the Bavarian perimeter, near where a villager was able to escape in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, subsequently the frontier was substantially reinforced.

Preserved Installations

2 guard towers are preserved in addition to a series of displays depicting the most significant events in the hamlet’s past. As we stroll, Lebergen enumerates the regulations: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers required specific authorization to tend to their fields; the husband or wife could use the harvesting machine but never the pair, lest they attempted to escape. Military personnel kept guard.

Larger Context

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the north to here in the south. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the most frequently, but in excess of twice as many persons (exceeding 300) died seeking to traverse it in rural areas than in the metropolis. the director reminds me that 95 percent of efforts to cross were unsuccessful.

Community Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or craftsmen, who adapted to residing in the grey zone between two political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their fields. They nor did they supported the East German authorities nor opposed it, the director states.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the village became a sort of site of interest. Roughly 15k visited each year, optical devices in hand, to gawp – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after reunification, the TV show, a broadcast production about a made-up village similar to Mödlareuth, led to renewed interest.

Modern Evolutions

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, boutique, film screening area and big vehicle area – is likely to