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A creek so low you scarcely got your feet wet divided a settlement for over four decades. Because of a chance of geography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by pine forests, meadows and stunning views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to straddle Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a boundary that was established first by a fence and then by a partition. United States military personnel nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

A few months after their own wall was torn down, and before their country had reunified in 1990, a group of local people started memorialising their history. The effort is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition was not entirely prepared. Speaking to the locals who lived through the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an brutal split, which ripped families apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

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

Historical Origins

Starting at its founding in 1810, the village straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house best known for bestowing all its men the designation Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the peculiarity never stood in the way of the locals gathering in the identical inn, visiting the very same religious building and placing their kids to the same school.

Following WWII Division

Then came the World War II. The moment they arrived, the Soviet forces installed wood stakes by the creek. For a annual period they seized the entire community, setting up their control center in a house on the Bavarian side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The Americans persuaded them to retreat across the creek. For a period, locals could still jump across, though as restrictions tightened they were required to present ID, although everyone knew who they were, and to come back at evening.

Increase of Frontier Measures

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was erected, with explosives, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The locals could still see each other by climbing hills, but on the Soviet side waving and yelling were forbidden. A local woman was placed on a East German secret police surveillance list for responding “same to you” to a western resident who wished her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I was told narratives including these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a significant portion of his working life building it. Locals were asked at an early stage about how how long a section barrier they desired to keep. They chose a stretch on the western edge, near where a local resident managed to flee in the dead of night with a ladder, after which the boundary was heavily fortified.

Maintained Structures

Two observation towers are maintained in addition to a set of exhibits depicting the most impactful moments in the hamlet’s past. As we move, Lebergen details the restrictions: not a single person could approach 5km of the boundary. Rural residents had to obtain special permission to look after their fields; the partner could work the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the two, lest they tried to escape. Military personnel were on duty.

Broader Context

The boundary between West Germany and the East Germany extended 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the north to this location in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and honored the greatest, but over twice as many persons (more than 300) died seeking to cross it in countryside regions than in the big city. Lebegern informs me that 95 percent of escape attempts did not succeed.

Community Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or craftsmen, who accommodated to dwelling in the grey zone between a pair of belief systems by staying low-profile and looking after their fields. They did not supported the East German authorities nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Interest

For tourists, however, the hamlet became a kind of site of interest. Roughly 15k came to visit annually, optical devices in hand, to look – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

25 years after reunification, the television series, a broadcast production about a fictional community like Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed curiosity.

Present-Day Developments

The launch of the new museum – with a cafe, store, movie theater and big vehicle area – is probable to