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An creek so shallow you barely got your ankles wet separated a community for over four decades. Because of a chance of landscape, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by pine forests, meadows and stunning views, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the misfortune to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a border that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. American soldiers called it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

A few months after their own wall was torn down, and before their nation had reunified in 1990, a group of residents began commemorating their past. The work is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the fall of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was publicly opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not completely finished. Addressing the locals who lived through the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an brutal split, which ripped households apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which ripped families asunder and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Bygone Background

Right from its founding in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for bestowing all its male members the name Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the quirk never stood in the manner of the inhabitants drinking in the very same pub, going to the same religious building and enrolling their kids to the identical educational institution.

After the War Split

Then came the global conflict. Immediately after they appeared, the Russian troops installed wood stakes by the creek. For a twelve months they occupied the whole community, creating their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers urged them to retreat to the other side of the brook. For a period, locals could continue to hop over, though as restrictions became stricter they were forced to show identity papers, even though each person was aware who they were, and to come back at night.

Intensification of Border Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was built, with explosives, vehicle barriers and observation points. The villagers could still observe each other by scaling elevations, but on the east side waving and shouting were forbidden. One woman was added to a East German secret police monitoring list for replying “same to you” to a western resident who wished her “good new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

I heard accounts such as these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted a significant portion of his working life creating it. Locals were asked at an early stage about how what length of structure they desired to preserve. They opted for a portion on the west fringe, near where a local resident managed to flee in the middle of the night with a ladder, subsequently the border was substantially fortified.

Conserved Structures

A pair of watchtowers are preserved alongside a set of exhibits depicting the most dramatic dates in the village’s past. As we walk, Robert Lebegern details the rules: not a single person could approach 5km of the border. Rural residents required special permission to look after their crops; the spouse could use the combine harvester but not both, in case they sought to flee. Soldiers were on duty.

Broader Context

The frontier between Western Germany and the East Germany stretched 1,400km, from the northern sea in the north to this location in the south. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most frequently, but in excess of double the number persons (more than 300) died seeking to traverse it in countryside regions than in the big city. the director informs me that almost all of attempts to flee failed.

Community Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or craftsmen, who adjusted to dwelling in the grey zone between two political systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their land. They nor did they backed the East German authorities nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the settlement became a sort of site of interest. Approximately 15k came to visit annually, viewing tools in possession, to stare – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty five years after reunification, Tannbach, a TV series about a imaginary community similar to Mödlareuth, led to fresh interest.

Modern Changes

The opening of the new museum – with a coffee shop, shop, film screening area and large vehicle area – is probable to