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An brook so shallow you scarcely got your ankles wet divided a village for in excess of four decades. Due to a quirk of topography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by pine forests, meadows and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a partition. United States military personnel nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Months after their own barrier was breached, and even before their nation had become one in 1990, a collection of residents set about memorialising their history. The effort is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not completely prepared. Addressing the villagers who lived through the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an brutal split, which tore households into pieces and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman separation, which tore families apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Historical Origins

Even at its establishment in 1810, the village straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for bestowing all its male descendants the name Heinrich and counting them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the quirk never stood in the path of the inhabitants gathering in the very same inn, visiting the identical church and enrolling their young ones to the identical learning center.

After the War Division

Then came the World War II. The moment they appeared, the Russians erected timber poles by the creek. For a annual period they took over the whole community, establishing their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers convinced them to withdraw across the brook. For a while, villagers could still hop over, though as controls became stricter they were forced to show identification, despite the fact that each person understood who they were, and to return at evening.

Increase of Border Controls

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was built, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The villagers could still observe each other by ascending hills, but on the Soviet side waving and yelling were forbidden. A local woman was placed on a East German secret police surveillance list for replying “same to you” to a Bavarian local who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

I heard accounts like these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a significant portion of his occupational time creating it. Locals were consulted in the initial phases about how what length of barrier they desired to preserve. They opted for a stretch on the Bavarian fringe, close to where a local resident was able to get away in the middle of the night with a ladder, subsequently the frontier was significantly reinforced.

Maintained Structures

Two observation towers are maintained together with a set of tableaux illustrating the most impactful events in the community’s past. As we move, Lebergen lists the rules: nobody could approach 5km of the boundary. Rural residents had to obtain particular approval to care for their produce; the partner could work the agricultural equipment but not both, in case they tried to flee. Armed guards stood watch.

Broader Background

The border between West Germany and the East Germany stretched nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the north to this location in the south. Berlin is recalled and documented the greatest, but over twice as many individuals (exceeding 300) died seeking to cross it in provincial zones than in the big city. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95 percent of efforts to cross failed.

Village Existence

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who adjusted to residing in the grey zone between two political systems by staying low-profile and caring for their land. They nor did they backed the communist regime nor fought it, the director explains.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the village became a kind of site of interest. Approximately fifteen thousand visited annually, binoculars in their hands, to gawp – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after unification, the TV show, a broadcast production about a imaginary community resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in new curiosity.

Present-Day Changes

The launch of the new museum – with a restaurant, shop, cinema room and large parking lot – is likely to