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An brook so low you hardly got your ankles wet divided a settlement for over four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement encircled by evergreen groves, pastures and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the misfortune to span Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a boundary that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. American soldiers dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating History

Several months after their own barrier was breached, and even before their nation had become one in 1990, a group of local people started commemorating their heritage. The effort is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite prepared. Telling the locals who lived through the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which ripped relatives asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel division, which tore relatives into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Past Context

Right from its founding in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most famous for bestowing all its male members the name Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the quirk did not stand in the way of the inhabitants drinking in the very same inn, attending the very same religious building and sending their kids to the same school.

Following WWII Split

Then came the World War II. As soon as they appeared, the Russians installed timber poles by the stream. For a year they took over the entire community, establishing their control center in a building on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans urged them to withdraw back over the stream. For a period, locals could continue to jump across, though as restrictions increased they were required to show ID, although everyone understood who they were, and to come back at evening.

Increase of Boundary Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was erected, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and guard posts. The residents could continue to view each other by scaling elevations, but on the Soviet side waving and calling out were forbidden. A local woman was put on a Stasi watch list for responding “same to you” to a Bavarian local who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

I was told stories such as these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a large part of his working life creating it. Residents were asked early on about how what length of structure they wished to keep. They opted for a section on the western perimeter, near where a local resident managed to escape in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, subsequently the border was significantly strengthened.

Maintained Structures

2 watchtowers are conserved together with a collection of displays illustrating the most dramatic events in the village’s chronicle. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern lists the restrictions: no one could approach 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers required particular approval to look after their crops; the husband or wife could work the agricultural equipment but never the pair, lest they sought to escape. Military personnel were on duty.

Broader Perspective

The border between Western Germany and the GDR extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the south. Berlin is commemorated and documented the greatest, but more than double the number individuals (well over 300) lost their lives trying to pass over it in rural areas than in the big city. the director reminds me that almost all of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Hamlet Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or artisans, who adjusted to residing in the grey zone between 2 belief systems by keeping their heads down and tending to their land. They neither supported the communist regime nor resisted it, the director clarifies.

Interest

For tourists, however, the settlement became a kind of pilgrimage. About 15k came to see every year, optical devices in their hands, to stare – and then rapidly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the television series, a broadcast production about a made-up community like Mödlareuth, caused fresh attention.

Modern Evolutions

The inauguration of the new museum – with a restaurant, boutique, movie theater and large car park – is expected to