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An creek so low you barely got your feet wet divided a settlement for more than four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of landscape, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by pine forests, pastures and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to straddle the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a frontier that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a wall. American soldiers dubbed it Little Berlin.

Memorialising the Past

Several months after their own barrier was opened, and before their country had become one in 1990, a collection of villagers started documenting their heritage. The work is close to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was officially inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite prepared. Speaking to the residents who lived through the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were observers of an brutal separation, which pulled families asunder and turned neighbours into aliens.”

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

Past Background

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the village spanned the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most famous for bestowing all its male members the name Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the manner of the inhabitants drinking in the identical pub, visiting the identical religious building and sending their kids to the same school.

After the War Split

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. Immediately after they came, the Russian troops put up wood stakes by the brook. For a year they occupied the complete village, setting up their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces urged them to pull back to the other side of the brook. For a period, locals could continue to jump across, though as controls increased they were obliged to present identification, even though everyone was aware who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Increase of Frontier Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal sealing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was constructed, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The residents could still see each other by ascending elevations, but on the Soviet side waving and yelling were forbidden. A local woman was placed on a GDR intelligence monitoring list for replying “likewise” to a West German resident who said her “happy new year”.

Museum Creation

I was told stories including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a significant portion of his professional career developing it. Locals were asked in the initial phases about how much barrier they wished to maintain. They chose a portion on the Bavarian fringe, close to where a villager was able to escape in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, subsequently the frontier was significantly fortified.

Conserved Structures

A pair of watchtowers are maintained in addition to a series of tableaux depicting the most significant events in the community’s past. As we walk, Robert Lebegern enumerates the regulations: no one could come within 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers required special permission to look after their fields; the spouse could operate the combine harvester but under no circumstances the pair, for fear that they sought to escape. Military personnel stood watch.

Wider Perspective

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the East Germany ran 1,400km, from the northern sea in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and honored the greatest, but in excess of double the number individuals (more than 300) died seeking to traverse it in provincial zones than in the big city. Lebegern reminds me that 95% of attempts to flee failed.

Village Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or skilled workers, who accommodated to living in the grey zone between two political systems by avoiding attention and caring for their fields. They nor did they backed the communist regime nor opposed it, Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the village became a kind of site of interest. Approximately fifteen thousand visited annually, optical devices in hand, to stare – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the television series, a TV series about a made-up village similar to Mödlareuth, led to new curiosity.

Present-Day Evolutions

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