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A stream so narrow you barely got your feet wet divided a settlement for over four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by coniferous woods, meadows and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a border that was marked first by a enclosure and then by a partition. United States military personnel dubbed it Little Berlin.

Commemorating History

Months after their own barrier was opened, and prior to their country had unified again in 1990, a collection of local people set about memorialising their history. The effort is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the fall of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display was not entirely finished. Addressing the residents who experienced the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which tore households into pieces and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal division, which pulled relatives apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Past Background

Right from its establishment in 1810, the community spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for giving all its male members the designation Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the peculiarity did not stand in the way of the locals gathering in the very same pub, attending the identical church and placing their young ones to the same learning center.

Following WWII Separation

Then came the second world war. As soon as they came, the Russians put up timber poles by the creek. For a twelve months they took over the whole community, establishing their control center in a house on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans convinced them to pull back across the brook. For a period, locals could still hop over, though as controls tightened they were forced to display identification, even though each person knew who they were, and to come back at evening.

Escalation of Border Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the legal shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was constructed, with explosives, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The locals could continue to see each other by climbing slopes, but on the eastern side signaling and shouting were banned. One woman was placed on a GDR intelligence watch list for replying “same to you” to a Bavarian resident who wished her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

I was told narratives including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has devoted a large part of his working life developing it. Residents were consulted at an early stage about how how long a section barrier they desired to keep. They selected a stretch on the west edge, adjacent to where a local resident was able to escape in the dead of night with a scaling tool, after which the boundary was substantially reinforced.

Conserved Structures

A pair of watchtowers are preserved alongside a series of exhibits illustrating the most dramatic moments in the hamlet’s past. As we move, the director details the rules: no one could approach 5km of the boundary. Rural residents had to obtain specific authorization to care for their crops; the husband or wife could operate the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the two, for fear that they tried to escape. Soldiers were on duty.

Broader Background

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to here in the south. Berlin is commemorated and honored the most, but in excess of twice as many individuals (well over 300) lost their lives attempting to traverse it in countryside regions than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95% of attempts to flee failed.

Community Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who adapted to dwelling in the grey zone between a pair of political systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their land. They neither backed the communist regime nor fought it, Lebegern clarifies.

Interest

For tourists, however, the village became a sort of pilgrimage. Approximately 15,000 came to see each year, optical devices in possession, to stare – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after reunification, the television series, a TV series about a made-up village like Mödlareuth, led to new interest.

Modern Changes

The launch of the recently established museum – with a cafe, shop, movie theater and sizable parking lot – is probable to