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A brook so low you scarcely got your ankles wet separated a settlement for over four decades worth of time. By an accident of landscape, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by pine forests, meadows and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the bad luck to cross the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a border that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. United States military personnel called it Small Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

A few months after their own barrier was opened, and even before their country had become one in 1990, a assembly of local people started commemorating their history. The project is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was officially launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not completely prepared. Telling the residents who lived through the past era, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an brutal division, which ripped relatives into pieces and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an cruel separation, which tore households asunder and turned local residents into strangers.”

Historical Context

Right from its founding in 1810, the community straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for bestowing all its male members the name Heinrich and counting them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier told the crowd, the oddity never stood in the way of the locals socializing in the same pub, visiting the very same religious building and placing their young ones to the identical educational institution.

Post-War Division

Next arrived the second world war. Immediately after they came, the Russians installed wood stakes by the brook. For a twelve months they occupied the complete hamlet, creating their headquarters in a building on the western side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The US forces persuaded them to pull back back over the creek. For a while, locals could still jump across, though as limitations increased they were obliged to show identity papers, although each person understood who they were, and to return at after dark.

Intensification of Frontier Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was erected, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The residents could continue to see each other by scaling slopes, but on the Soviet side waving and calling out were prohibited. One woman was added to a GDR intelligence surveillance list for replying “back at you” to a western villager who greeted her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I heard stories like these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated much of his working life building it. Villagers were polled at an early stage about how much wall they wished to preserve. They chose a portion on the western edge, near where a villager succeeded to get away in the dead of night with a scaling tool, following which the border was significantly reinforced.

Preserved Structures

Two observation towers are maintained together with a collection of exhibits illustrating the most dramatic dates in the village’s past. As we stroll, the director details the restrictions: no one could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Farmers required specific authorization to care for their produce; the spouse could operate the agricultural equipment but not both, in case they attempted to escape. Armed guards kept guard.

Broader Perspective

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is recalled and honored the most frequently, but more than twice as many individuals (well over 300) lost their lives attempting to pass over it in rural areas than in the big city. Robert Lebegern tells me that 95 percent of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Hamlet Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who adapted to residing in the uncertain territory between a pair of political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their land. They nor did they endorsed the East German authorities nor opposed it, Lebegern states.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a sort of destination. Roughly 15k visited each year, optical devices in possession, to gawp – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

25 years after reunification, the television series, a TV series about a imaginary community like Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh attention.

Present-Day Evolutions

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