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A creek so narrow you hardly got your feet wet divided a community for over four decades of time. Because of a chance of topography, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by coniferous woods, pastures and stunning scenery, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the misfortune to cross the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a barricade. American soldiers nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Several months after their own wall was breached, and before their state had unified again in 1990, a group of villagers set about commemorating their past. The project is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the fall of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite prepared. Telling the villagers who experienced the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which tore families apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which pulled households asunder and turned local residents into strangers.”

Historical Background

Even at its creation in 1810, the village cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for giving all its male descendants the name Heinrich and labeling them in order by birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the quirk never stood in the path of the locals socializing in the same inn, attending the identical church and placing their children to the identical educational institution.

Following WWII Split

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. As soon as they came, the Soviet forces installed wood stakes by the creek. For a twelve months they occupied the entire hamlet, setting up their headquarters in a house on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The US forces persuaded them to pull back to the other side of the brook. For a period, villagers could continue to hop over, though as controls became stricter they were forced to present ID, even though everyone knew who they were, and to come back at evening.

Escalation of Border Measures

After that, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was built, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The locals could still see each other by climbing elevations, but on the eastern side signaling and shouting were prohibited. A female resident was placed on a Stasi surveillance list for answering “same to you” to a western resident who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I heard accounts including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a large part of his working life building it. Locals were asked at an early stage about how much wall they desired to keep. They opted for a section on the western perimeter, close to where a local resident was able to get away in the middle of the night with a climbing device, following which the boundary was significantly strengthened.

Conserved Buildings

A pair of watchtowers are conserved in addition to a collection of displays depicting the most dramatic moments in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we stroll, Lebergen details the regulations: no one could get closer than 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain specific authorization to look after their produce; the spouse could use the harvesting machine but under no circumstances both, lest they tried to make a run for it. Armed guards kept guard.

Broader Perspective

The boundary between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic ran 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and documented the greatest, but more than two times more persons (more than 300) lost their lives trying to pass over it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. the director tells me that almost all of efforts to cross were unsuccessful.

Community Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were agricultural workers or skilled workers, who adapted to dwelling in the grey zone between two belief systems by staying low-profile and tending to their land. They did not backed the East German authorities nor fought it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a type of destination. Roughly 15k came to see each year, optical devices in possession, to gawp – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

25 years after reunification, Tannbach, a television program about a fictional community resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh attention.

Current Changes

The launch of the new museum – with a coffee shop, store, cinema room and big car park – is likely to