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A brook so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet divided a village for more than four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by coniferous woods, meadows and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was marked first by a barrier and then by a wall. US troops called it Small Berlin.

Memorialising History

A few months after their own wall was breached, and before their state had reunified in 1990, a assembly of local people set about memorialising their history. The project is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the demolition of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was publicly launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not entirely finished. Addressing the villagers who endured the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which ripped families apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman separation, which pulled relatives into pieces and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Bygone Context

Right from its establishment in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a royal family best known for bestowing all its men the title Heinrich and labeling them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the way of the residents drinking in the identical pub, going to the very same religious building and placing their kids to the same school.

Post-War Division

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. As soon as they arrived, the Soviet forces erected timber poles by the stream. For a twelve months they seized the complete hamlet, setting up their control center in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans persuaded them to withdraw across the stream. For a time, residents could still cross over, though as limitations increased they were forced to show identification, even though all was aware who they were, and to go back at evening.

Increase of Frontier Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was erected, with landmines, tank traps and guard posts. The locals could still see each other by scaling elevations, but on the eastern side waving and calling out were forbidden. One woman was added to a Stasi watch list for responding “back at you” to a Bavarian local who said her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I was told stories such as these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted a significant portion of his professional career developing it. Locals were consulted early on about how much barrier they desired to preserve. They opted for a stretch on the western fringe, near where one of their own was able to escape in the dead of night with a climbing device, after which the border was heavily strengthened.

Preserved Structures

A pair of guard towers are maintained alongside a series of exhibits showing the most significant dates in the village’s chronicle. As we move, the director lists the restrictions: nobody could get closer than 5km of the border. Agricultural workers required particular approval to look after their crops; the spouse could use the agricultural equipment but never the pair, in case they tried to flee. Soldiers kept guard.

Larger Context

The frontier between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic ran 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the greatest, but over double the number people (exceeding 300) were killed trying to pass over it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. the director tells me that 95% of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Village Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or artisans, who adapted to dwelling in the grey zone between two ideological spheres by avoiding attention and caring for their fields. They did not backed the East German authorities nor fought it, the director states.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the village became a type of pilgrimage. About 15k visited annually, binoculars in their hands, to gawp – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after unification, Tannbach, a TV series about a fictional village like Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed curiosity.

Present-Day Evolutions

The opening of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, boutique, film screening area and large car park – is probable to