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A creek so low you barely got your feet wet split a community for in excess of four decades worth of time. By an accident of landscape, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by evergreen groves, fields and stunning views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to span the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a frontier that was marked first by a enclosure and then by a wall. US troops nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Several months after their own division was breached, and even before their state had unified again in 1990, a assembly of residents set about memorialising their history. The work is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the collapse of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not completely ready. Speaking to the locals who experienced the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which ripped families into pieces and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an inhuman split, which tore relatives asunder and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

Historical Context

Even at its founding in 1810, the community spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for bestowing all its male members the title Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the manner of the residents gathering in the same tavern, going to the identical place of worship and sending their kids to the same educational institution.

Following WWII Separation

Then came the global conflict. As soon as they came, the Russian troops put up wooden posts by the brook. For a twelve months they seized the entire village, establishing their command in a building on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces urged them to pull back across the stream. For a while, locals could still hop over, though as limitations became stricter they were obliged to show ID, even though everyone understood who they were, and to come back at night.

Escalation of Boundary Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was built, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and guard posts. The residents could still observe each other by scaling hills, but on the east side gesturing and shouting were banned. One woman was put on a Stasi surveillance list for answering “likewise” to a West German local who wished her “happy new year”.

Museum Development

I was told narratives like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has devoted a significant portion of his professional career developing it. Residents were consulted at an early stage about how what length of wall they wanted to keep. They chose a section on the western edge, near where one of their own was able to get away in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, subsequently the boundary was heavily reinforced.

Preserved Buildings

A pair of guard towers are preserved together with a collection of displays illustrating the most impactful moments in the village’s chronicle. As we walk, Lebergen details the regulations: not a single person could come within 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers needed particular approval to look after their fields; the partner could work the harvesting machine but under no circumstances both, in case they attempted to escape. Soldiers kept guard.

Broader Background

The border between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic ran 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and documented the greatest, but in excess of double the number individuals (more than 300) lost their lives seeking to traverse it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. Lebegern informs me that almost all of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Community Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or skilled workers, who adjusted to living in the grey zone between two political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their land. They did not supported the socialist government nor resisted it, the director explains.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the village became a kind of site of interest. Approximately 15k visited each year, binoculars in possession, to gawp – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty five years after merger, the TV show, a television program about a made-up community similar to Mödlareuth, caused renewed curiosity.

Modern Developments

The inauguration of the new museum – with a coffee shop, shop, cinema room and big car park – is expected to