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A stream so shallow you hardly got your ankles wet split a settlement for more than four decades worth of time. By an accident of geography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by pine forests, pastures and stunning vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a border that was established first by a fence and then by a barricade. US troops dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating History

Several months after their own wall was breached, and even before their country had become one in 1990, a group of villagers started documenting their past. The work is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the demolition of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition was not entirely prepared. Telling the villagers who experienced the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which pulled families into pieces and turned neighbors into aliens.”

“You were observers of an brutal split, which tore families apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Past Background

Right from its establishment in 1810, the community spanned the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most famous for assigning all its male descendants the title Heinrich and counting them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the peculiarity never stood in the path of the locals socializing in the identical pub, visiting the identical religious building and sending their kids to the identical educational institution.

After the War Division

Next arrived the World War II. The moment they arrived, the Russians erected timber poles by the stream. For a year they took over the complete community, establishing their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to pull back to the other side of the stream. For a while, locals could continue to hop over, though as restrictions increased they were required to present identification, even though everyone was aware who they were, and to come back at night.

Intensification of Frontier Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was constructed, with landmines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The locals could still view each other by ascending slopes, but on the east side signaling and shouting were prohibited. A local woman was added to a GDR intelligence monitoring list for replying “same to you” to a West German resident who said her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I was told stories such as these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a large part of his working life creating it. Residents were polled early on about how much barrier they wished to preserve. They opted for a portion on the western perimeter, near where a villager was able to get away in the darkest hours with a climbing device, following which the border was significantly reinforced.

Conserved Installations

A pair of observation towers are conserved in addition to a set of exhibits depicting the most impactful events in the village’s past. As we move, Lebergen enumerates the regulations: not a single person could come within 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers had to obtain specific authorization to look after their fields; the husband or wife could work the combine harvester but never both, in case they attempted to flee. Soldiers stood watch.

Broader Background

The boundary between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic ran 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most frequently, but in excess of twice as many individuals (exceeding 300) died attempting to traverse it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95% of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Hamlet Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or artisans, who adapted to residing in the grey zone between two political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their land. They did not endorsed the socialist government nor fought it, Lebegern explains.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the village became a kind of destination. Roughly 15,000 came to see annually, binoculars in hand, to look – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after unification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a made-up village resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed attention.

Present-Day Developments

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, boutique, cinema room and big parking lot – is expected to