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An brook so narrow you scarcely got your feet wet split a village for over 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, fields and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the misfortune to span the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a boundary that was established first by a barrier and then by a barricade. United States military personnel called it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

A few months after their own wall was opened, and prior to their state had reunified in 1990, a collection of villagers set about commemorating their history. The work is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was officially opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not entirely finished. Telling the villagers who endured the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an brutal separation, which pulled families asunder and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal split, which tore households apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Past Origins

Starting at its founding in 1810, the village straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for bestowing all its men the title Heinrich and labeling them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the manner of the locals drinking in the same tavern, visiting the identical religious building and enrolling their children to the identical educational institution.

Post-War Division

Subsequently occurred the World War II. The moment they appeared, the Russians erected wood stakes by the stream. For a twelve months they seized the entire community, creating their control center in a house on the western side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers convinced them to pull back to the other side of the stream. For a time, residents could still cross over, though as controls tightened they were required to show identification, although all understood who they were, and to return at night.

Increase of Boundary Measures

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal sealing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was built, with mines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The villagers could continue to see each other by climbing hills, but on the eastern side waving and calling out were forbidden. A local woman was added to a GDR intelligence monitoring list for responding “back at you” to a Bavarian local who wished her “happy new year”.

Museum Creation

It was related to me narratives like these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent a large part of his occupational time creating it. Residents were consulted at an early stage about how what length of barrier they wished to keep. They chose a portion on the west fringe, close to where one of their own managed to escape in the middle of the night with a ladder, after which the border was significantly strengthened.

Preserved Buildings

A pair of observation towers are conserved alongside a set of exhibits illustrating the most significant moments in the community’s history. As we walk, Lebergen lists the regulations: no one could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers had to obtain specific authorization to tend to their fields; the partner could use the combine harvester but never the two, for fear that they sought to escape. Military personnel stood watch.

Broader Perspective

The border between West Germany and the East Germany ran nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the north to here in the south. Berlin is recalled and documented the greatest, but in excess of twice as many people (well over 300) died attempting to cross it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Lebegern tells me that 95 percent of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Community Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who accommodated to residing in the uncertain territory between a pair of ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and tending to their farms. They neither supported the communist regime nor opposed it, Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a sort of pilgrimage. Roughly fifteen thousand came to see every year, optical devices in their hands, to stare – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the television series, a TV series about a fictional community similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in new curiosity.

Present-Day Changes

The opening of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, boutique, film screening area and sizable vehicle area – is likely to