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A brook so low you scarcely got your feet wet divided a village for more than four decades. By an accident of geography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by evergreen groves, fields and stunning views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to span the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a border that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. American soldiers dubbed it Little Berlin.

Preserving the Past

A few months after their own barrier was torn down, and before their country had reunified in 1990, a group of residents began commemorating their past. The effort is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the demolition of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was formally opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show wasn’t quite finished. Addressing the residents who experienced the past era, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an inhuman split, which tore relatives asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which pulled households apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

Historical Context

Right from its establishment in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for giving all its male members the title Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the quirk was never an obstacle in the manner of the locals gathering in the same tavern, going to the very same church and enrolling their children to the identical educational institution.

Post-War Division

Next arrived the global conflict. The moment they appeared, the Russians erected wood stakes by the brook. For a twelve months they took over the complete village, creating their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The US forces persuaded them to withdraw to the other side of the stream. For a while, villagers could still hop over, though as controls increased they were obliged to show identity papers, although each person understood who they were, and to go back at evening.

Intensification of Border Measures

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal sealing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was built, with explosives, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The residents could still view each other by ascending elevations, but on the east side signaling and calling out were banned. A local woman was put on a East German secret police surveillance list for answering “likewise” to a Bavarian resident who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Development

It was related to me accounts including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent a large part of his professional career building it. Locals were consulted early on about how how long a section barrier they desired to keep. They chose a section on the west edge, adjacent to where a villager succeeded to get away in the dead of night with a ladder, following which the boundary was substantially reinforced.

Maintained Buildings

2 guard towers are maintained alongside a collection of exhibits showing the most significant moments in the hamlet’s history. As we walk, Lebergen enumerates the regulations: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers needed particular approval to care for their produce; the partner could operate the harvesting machine but not the two, for fear that they attempted to flee. Military personnel kept guard.

Broader Background

The frontier between West Germany and the East Germany extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the most frequently, but in excess of twice as many people (well over 300) died attempting to pass over it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern tells me that 95 percent of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Village Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or artisans, who accommodated to residing in the grey zone between a pair of belief systems by avoiding attention and tending to their farms. They did not endorsed the East German authorities nor fought it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a kind of site of interest. About 15,000 visited each year, binoculars in their hands, to stare – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty five years after unification, Tannbach, a television program about a made-up community resembling Mödlareuth, led to fresh attention.

Current Changes

The opening of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, store, film screening area and sizable parking lot – is probable to