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An brook so shallow you barely got your ankles wet separated a settlement for more than four decades of time. Due to a quirk of landscape, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, fields and spectacular views, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a frontier that was established first by a barrier and then by a partition. US troops called it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating History

Several months after their own division was breached, and prior to their country had unified again in 1990, a assembly of villagers set about documenting their heritage. The effort is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the demolition of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition was not entirely ready. Speaking to the villagers who lived through the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were bystanders of an cruel split, which pulled families into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel split, which tore households asunder and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Bygone Origins

Even at its creation in 1810, the village spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a royal family most famous for bestowing all its men the designation Heinrich and counting them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the oddity never stood in the way of the locals gathering in the identical tavern, visiting the very same religious building and placing their children to the identical school.

After the War Separation

Then came the second world war. The moment they arrived, the Russian troops erected wooden posts by the brook. For a annual period they took over the complete village, setting up their command in a building on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers convinced them to withdraw to the other side of the creek. For a time, residents could still hop over, though as controls increased they were required to display identity papers, even though everyone knew who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Increase of Border Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was built, with explosives, vehicle barriers and observation points. The locals could still observe each other by climbing slopes, but on the Soviet side waving and shouting were banned. A local woman was added to a East German secret police watch list for responding “same to you” to a West German resident who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Creation

I was told narratives like these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted a large part of his working life building it. Residents were consulted at an early stage about how much wall they wished to preserve. They opted for a section on the west edge, adjacent to where a local resident managed to escape in the darkest hours with a climbing device, subsequently the boundary was heavily strengthened.

Preserved Buildings

A pair of watchtowers are maintained alongside a set of exhibits illustrating the most dramatic events in the village’s past. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern details the restrictions: no one could come within 5km of the boundary. Farmers required specific authorization to care for their fields; the partner could operate the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the two, for fear that they sought to make a run for it. Soldiers stood watch.

Wider Context

The border between the Federal Republic and the GDR stretched 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the north to the south in the south. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the greatest, but over double the number individuals (more than 300) lost their lives seeking to cross it in rural areas than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95 percent of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Community Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or artisans, who accommodated to dwelling in the uncertain territory between a pair of belief systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their fields. They neither backed the East German authorities nor fought it, Lebegern explains.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the village became a type of destination. Approximately 15,000 came to visit annually, optical devices in possession, to look – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after merger, the television series, a broadcast production about a imaginary village resembling Mödlareuth, led to renewed curiosity.

Present-Day Developments

The inauguration of the new museum – with a coffee shop, shop, movie theater and large car park – is probable to