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An stream so narrow you scarcely got your feet wet split a village for over four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by coniferous woods, fields and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to span Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a border that was established first by a fence and then by a barricade. United States military personnel called it Mini Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Several months after their own division was torn down, and even before their state had reunified in 1990, a group of villagers started commemorating their heritage. The work is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was publicly launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display was not completely ready. Speaking to the locals who lived through the former times, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an inhuman separation, which ripped families asunder and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which tore households into pieces and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Historical Origins

Right from its founding in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for bestowing all its men the designation Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier told the crowd, the oddity did not stand in the way of the inhabitants drinking in the identical tavern, going to the very same church and placing their young ones to the identical learning center.

Post-War Split

Next arrived the global conflict. The moment they arrived, the Soviet forces erected timber poles by the creek. For a year they seized the entire community, establishing their command in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers urged them to pull back to the other side of the creek. For a time, residents could still hop over, though as controls became stricter they were forced to show identification, despite the fact that all was aware who they were, and to return at after dark.

Escalation of Boundary Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was constructed, with landmines, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The residents could still view each other by scaling hills, but on the eastern side signaling and calling out were banned. One woman was placed on a GDR intelligence monitoring list for responding “same to you” to a West German villager who said her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

It was related to me stories like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a significant portion of his working life developing it. Residents were asked at an early stage about how what length of structure they wanted to preserve. They selected a portion on the western perimeter, close to where one of their own was able to escape in the dead of night with a ladder, following which the frontier was substantially reinforced.

Maintained Buildings

2 watchtowers are maintained together with a set of tableaux showing the most significant moments in the community’s chronicle. As we stroll, the director lists the rules: not a single person could approach 5km of the border. Agricultural workers required specific authorization to tend to their produce; the husband or wife could operate the combine harvester but not the two, for fear that they sought to flee. Armed guards kept guard.

Larger Context

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic extended nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and documented the greatest, but in excess of twice as many people (exceeding 300) died trying to pass over it in provincial zones than in the big city. Robert Lebegern tells me that 95 percent of escape attempts did not succeed.

Village Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or artisans, who adjusted to residing in the grey zone between two political systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their farms. They neither endorsed the socialist government nor resisted it, Lebegern states.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a kind of destination. Approximately fifteen thousand visited each year, viewing tools in possession, to gawp – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

25 years after merger, the TV show, a television program about a made-up village similar to Mödlareuth, led to fresh attention.

Present-Day Developments

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, shop, cinema room and big car park – is likely to