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An creek so shallow you hardly got your feet wet split a settlement for in excess of four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by coniferous woods, pastures and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to straddle Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a frontier that was marked first by a enclosure and then by a partition. United States military personnel called it Small Berlin.

Memorialising the Past

Months after their own wall was opened, and even before their state had become one in 1990, a group of local people set about commemorating their history. The work is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not entirely prepared. Telling the villagers who endured the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which pulled families apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which ripped relatives apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Historical Origins

Even at its establishment in 1810, the village spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most renowned for giving all its male members the designation Heinrich and counting them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the oddity was never an obstacle in the manner of the residents gathering in the very same tavern, going to the same religious building and placing their children to the very same educational institution.

After the War Split

Subsequently occurred the second world war. Immediately after they appeared, the Russian troops installed timber poles by the stream. For a annual period they seized the entire village, creating their headquarters in a building on the western side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans persuaded them to pull back to the other side of the stream. For a while, residents could continue to jump across, though as limitations became stricter they were forced to show ID, despite the fact that all knew who they were, and to go back at night.

Increase of Frontier Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was erected, with mines, tank traps and watchtowers. The villagers could still observe each other by ascending elevations, but on the east side gesturing and shouting were banned. A female resident was added to a Stasi monitoring list for replying “back at you” to a western resident who said her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Development

I was told stories including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a large part of his working life building it. Locals were polled in the initial phases about how what length of structure they wanted to keep. They selected a stretch on the west perimeter, adjacent to where a villager was able to escape in the darkest hours with a ladder, after which the frontier was significantly reinforced.

Maintained Buildings

2 guard towers are conserved in addition to a set of displays depicting the most significant dates in the hamlet’s history. As we walk, Robert Lebegern lists the regulations: nobody could approach 5km of the border. Farmers needed specific authorization to care for their fields; the partner could work the agricultural equipment but never the two, in case they attempted to flee. Armed guards were on duty.

Broader Context

The frontier between Western Germany and the GDR extended nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the north to here in the south. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most frequently, but in excess of twice as many individuals (exceeding 300) were killed seeking to cross it in countryside regions than in the big city. the director reminds me that 95 percent of escape attempts failed.

Village Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or skilled workers, who accommodated to living in the ambiguous area between two belief systems by keeping their heads down and tending to their land. They neither supported the East German authorities nor fought it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a sort of pilgrimage. About 15k came to see each year, optical devices in hand, to stare – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the TV show, a television program about a fictional village like Mödlareuth, led to new attention.

Current Evolutions

The launch of the new museum – with a coffee shop, boutique, cinema room and large car park – is expected to