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An brook so shallow you barely got your feet wet divided a settlement for more than four decades. By an accident of topography, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by coniferous woods, pastures and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a frontier that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a wall. United States military personnel dubbed it Little Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Months after their own division was torn down, and prior to their state had reunified in 1990, a group of residents set about documenting their past. The effort is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was formally opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show wasn’t quite finished. Speaking to the locals who endured the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an brutal division, which ripped relatives asunder and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal split, which ripped families apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Bygone Context

Right from its establishment in 1810, the community cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house best known for giving all its male descendants the name Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the quirk was never an obstacle in the way of the inhabitants socializing in the very same pub, going to the identical church and sending their young ones to the very same educational institution.

After the War Division

Subsequently occurred the World War II. Immediately after they arrived, the Soviet forces erected wooden posts by the brook. For a annual period they took over the complete village, creating their command in a building on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to pull back to the other side of the creek. For a while, locals could still hop over, though as controls increased they were obliged to show identity papers, even though everyone knew who they were, and to go back at night.

Escalation of Boundary Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was built, with mines, tank traps and guard posts. The villagers could continue to see each other by ascending hills, but on the eastern side waving and shouting were banned. One woman was added to a GDR intelligence monitoring list for replying “likewise” to a Bavarian local who wished her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

It was related to me narratives like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted a large part of his professional career creating it. Residents were polled in the initial phases about how how long a section wall they wished to preserve. They opted for a portion on the west edge, near where one of their own succeeded to flee in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, subsequently the border was substantially fortified.

Preserved Installations

Two guard towers are preserved together with a series of exhibits depicting the most dramatic moments in the community’s chronicle. As we move, Lebergen enumerates the restrictions: nobody could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Rural residents had to obtain special permission to care for their produce; the husband or wife could use the agricultural equipment but not the two, lest they tried to escape. Military personnel stood watch.

Broader Context

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the East Germany extended 1,400km, from the northern sea in the northern part to here in the south. Berlin is commemorated and documented the most, but more than twice as many people (well over 300) died attempting to pass over it in countryside regions than in the big city. the director reminds me that almost all of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Village Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were agricultural workers or craftsmen, who accommodated to living in the uncertain territory between 2 belief systems by staying low-profile and tending to their land. They did not supported the East German authorities nor fought it, the director explains.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the settlement became a sort of site of interest. Approximately fifteen thousand came to visit each year, viewing tools in hand, to look – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty five years after unification, the television series, a broadcast production about a fictional hamlet similar to Mödlareuth, led to renewed attention.

Modern Evolutions

The inauguration of the new museum – with a restaurant, shop, film screening area and big parking lot – is probable to