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An creek so low you hardly got your feet wet separated a settlement for in excess of four decades. By an accident of geography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by coniferous woods, meadows and stunning views, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a border that was marked first by a enclosure and then by a wall. US troops nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

Months after their own wall was opened, and before their nation had become one in 1990, a group of local people began documenting their history. The effort is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was publicly opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not entirely prepared. Addressing the villagers who lived through the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which ripped families asunder and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were observers of an brutal split, which ripped families apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

Historical Origins

Right from its creation in 1810, the community spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house best known for assigning all its men the name Heinrich and labeling them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the oddity did not stand in the way of the residents socializing in the same pub, going to the same religious building and placing their kids to the identical educational institution.

Post-War Division

Subsequently occurred the World War II. The moment they appeared, the Russian troops installed wood stakes by the stream. For a annual period they occupied the entire hamlet, creating their command in a building on the western side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The Americans persuaded them to retreat across the stream. For a while, residents could continue to jump across, though as restrictions increased they were required to present identity papers, although each person was aware who they were, and to return at evening.

Escalation of Frontier Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the legal closing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was erected, with landmines, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The villagers could still see each other by ascending hills, but on the east side signaling and shouting were forbidden. One woman was added to a East German secret police surveillance list for responding “likewise” to a Bavarian resident who said her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I heard accounts such as these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent much of his occupational time creating it. Villagers were polled in the initial phases about how much barrier they desired to maintain. They chose a section on the Bavarian edge, adjacent to where a villager managed to get away in the darkest hours with a ladder, after which the boundary was substantially strengthened.

Preserved Structures

Two observation towers are preserved in addition to a set of displays illustrating the most impactful dates in the community’s past. As we move, the director details the restrictions: nobody could approach 5km of the boundary. Rural residents had to obtain specific authorization to care for their produce; the husband or wife could use the agricultural equipment but not the pair, in case they sought to make a run for it. Military personnel were on duty.

Broader Background

The border between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to here in the south. Berlin is commemorated and documented the most, but more than twice as many people (more than 300) were killed attempting to pass over it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Lebegern tells me that almost all of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Hamlet Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were rural laborers or skilled workers, who adapted to dwelling in the uncertain territory between 2 political systems by staying low-profile and caring for their fields. They neither endorsed the East German authorities nor resisted it, Lebegern explains.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the settlement became a kind of pilgrimage. Approximately fifteen thousand visited each year, optical devices in possession, to look – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after reunification, the TV show, a TV series about a made-up community resembling Mödlareuth, led to fresh attention.

Current Changes

The launch of the new museum – with a restaurant, shop, movie theater and large vehicle area – is likely to