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An brook so narrow you barely got your ankles wet split a community for over four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of topography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by pine forests, meadows and stunning scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a border that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. American soldiers nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving the Past

Months after their own division was torn down, and prior to their state had become one in 1990, a assembly of villagers began commemorating their past. The effort is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not entirely ready. Speaking to the villagers who endured the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were observers of an cruel division, which tore relatives apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were observers of an inhuman separation, which tore households apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Past Origins

Even at its founding in 1810, the hamlet cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for giving all its men the name Heinrich and counting them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the manner of the locals socializing in the identical tavern, attending the identical religious building and sending their young ones to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Separation

Then came the World War II. The moment they appeared, the Russian troops put up wooden posts by the brook. For a twelve months they seized the entire village, setting up their control center in a house on the Bavarian side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers convinced them to pull back to the other side of the stream. For a while, locals could still cross over, though as controls became stricter they were forced to display ID, even though all knew who they were, and to go back at night.

Escalation of Frontier Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was constructed, with landmines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The residents could still see each other by ascending elevations, but on the Soviet side waving and shouting were banned. A local woman was added to a GDR intelligence surveillance list for replying “back at you” to a western resident who said her “good new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

I heard stories including these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated a large part of his professional career creating it. Residents were polled in the initial phases about how much structure they desired to preserve. They selected a stretch on the western perimeter, close to where one of their own was able to flee in the middle of the night with a ladder, following which the frontier was significantly strengthened.

Maintained Structures

A pair of observation towers are conserved together with a collection of exhibits showing the most significant events in the community’s history. As we move, Lebergen lists the restrictions: nobody could approach 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain specific authorization to look after their fields; the partner could work the harvesting machine but under no circumstances both, in case they tried to escape. Soldiers stood watch.

Broader Background

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the East Germany extended 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the most, but in excess of double the number persons (more than 300) died attempting to pass over it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95 percent of escape attempts did not succeed.

Hamlet Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or skilled workers, who adjusted to residing in the grey zone between two ideological spheres by staying low-profile and caring for their farms. They nor did they supported the communist regime nor resisted it, the director explains.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the village became a sort of pilgrimage. Roughly 15,000 visited every year, binoculars in possession, to look – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after reunification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a made-up village like Mödlareuth, led to fresh attention.

Present-Day Developments

The opening of the recently established museum – with a cafe, shop, film screening area and big vehicle area – is expected to