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An stream so narrow you barely got your feet wet split a settlement for in excess of four decades. Because of a chance of geography, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by evergreen groves, meadows and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to span Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was established first by a barrier and then by a wall. US troops called it Mini Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

Months after their own division was opened, and prior to their nation had reunified in 1990, a assembly of villagers started commemorating their past. The effort is close to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the collapse of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show wasn’t quite finished. Telling the villagers who endured the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an brutal division, which ripped families apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which pulled households apart and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

Historical Origins

Starting at its founding in 1810, the village cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage best known for assigning all its men the name Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the peculiarity did not stand in the manner of the locals socializing in the very same pub, visiting the very same church and placing their children to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Split

Next arrived the global conflict. As soon as they appeared, the Russian troops erected timber poles by the stream. For a annual period they occupied the entire community, setting up their command in a building on the western side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers urged them to withdraw back over the stream. For a while, villagers could still jump across, though as restrictions tightened they were forced to display identification, despite the fact that all knew who they were, and to return at evening.

Intensification of Boundary Controls

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was erected, with landmines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The villagers could still see each other by climbing hills, but on the Soviet side waving and calling out were prohibited. A female resident was added to a GDR intelligence surveillance list for responding “same to you” to a western resident who wished her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I heard stories like these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated much of his professional career developing it. Locals were polled early on about how much barrier they wanted to maintain. They opted for a section on the western fringe, adjacent to where a local resident was able to escape in the middle of the night with a ladder, subsequently the border was significantly strengthened.

Conserved Installations

A pair of guard towers are maintained together with a series of tableaux showing the most significant dates in the village’s history. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern details the restrictions: not a single person could come within 5km of the frontier. Rural residents had to obtain particular approval to look after their fields; the husband or wife could work the combine harvester but not both, for fear that they attempted to flee. Military personnel stood watch.

Wider Perspective

The boundary between West Germany and the GDR ran 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and honored the most frequently, but in excess of double the number individuals (exceeding 300) lost their lives attempting to pass over it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95% of escape attempts did not succeed.

Hamlet Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who accommodated to living in the uncertain territory between two political systems by avoiding attention and looking after their land. They nor did they endorsed the East German authorities nor opposed it, Lebegern explains.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the village became a kind of site of interest. About 15,000 came to see annually, viewing tools in their hands, to stare – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

25 years after merger, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a fictional community like Mödlareuth, caused renewed interest.

Current Evolutions

The launch of the recently established museum – with a cafe, store, movie theater and big parking lot – is expected to