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An stream so shallow you barely got your feet wet divided a village for over four decades. By an accident of topography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by evergreen groves, fields and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to span the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a border that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a wall. American soldiers called it Little Berlin.

Preserving the Past

A few months after their own barrier was opened, and even before their nation had reunified in 1990, a group of residents started documenting their heritage. The work is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show was not completely finished. Addressing the villagers who lived through the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an inhuman split, which pulled families asunder and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which pulled households asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Past Origins

Even at its establishment in 1810, the community straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most famous for assigning all its men the designation Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the oddity was never an obstacle in the way of the inhabitants gathering in the same tavern, visiting the identical religious building and placing their young ones to the identical learning center.

Following WWII Split

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. As soon as they appeared, the Russians installed wooden posts by the creek. For a year they seized the whole hamlet, establishing their control center in a building on the western side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces urged them to withdraw back over the creek. For a time, villagers could still hop over, though as restrictions became stricter they were required to show identification, although everyone was aware who they were, and to go back at night.

Intensification of Border Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was erected, with explosives, tank traps and observation points. The residents could still view each other by ascending elevations, but on the east side gesturing and yelling were forbidden. A female resident was put on a Stasi watch list for replying “back at you” to a western villager who said her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I was told stories including these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent much of his working life building it. Villagers were polled in the initial phases about how what length of structure they wished to maintain. They opted for a stretch on the western fringe, adjacent to where one of their own was able to escape in the darkest hours with a climbing device, after which the frontier was significantly reinforced.

Maintained Installations

2 observation towers are preserved in addition to a collection of tableaux illustrating the most dramatic moments in the village’s history. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern details the regulations: not a single person could come within 5km of the boundary. Rural residents needed special permission to tend to their produce; the partner could use the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances the two, in case they tried to make a run for it. Military personnel were on duty.

Larger Context

The frontier between Western Germany and the East Germany extended 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and documented the greatest, but in excess of twice as many persons (exceeding 300) died seeking to pass over it in countryside regions than in the big city. Lebegern informs me that 95 percent of escape attempts failed.

Community Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or craftsmen, who adapted to dwelling in the ambiguous area between a pair of belief systems by staying low-profile and tending to their farms. They nor did they supported the communist regime nor fought it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the hamlet became a kind of destination. About fifteen thousand came to visit each year, optical devices in their hands, to stare – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

25 years after merger, Tannbach, a TV series about a made-up village resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in new attention.

Modern Evolutions

The launch of the new museum – with a coffee shop, shop, cinema room and large car park – is probable to