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A stream so shallow you scarcely got your ankles wet separated a village for over four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by coniferous woods, fields and stunning vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to cross Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a border that was marked first by a enclosure and then by a wall. American soldiers called it Little Berlin.

Memorialising the Past

A few months after their own barrier was breached, and even before their nation had become one in 1990, a collection of residents started commemorating their heritage. The project is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was publicly opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition was not completely ready. Addressing the villagers who endured the past era, Steinmeier remarked: “You were bystanders of an brutal split, which pulled families apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which tore relatives apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

Historical Background

Starting at its founding in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for bestowing all its male descendants the title Heinrich and counting them sequentially by birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the peculiarity never stood in the manner of the residents gathering in the very same tavern, going to the identical religious building and sending their children to the very same educational institution.

After the War Separation

Next arrived the global conflict. Immediately after they appeared, the Russians erected wood stakes by the stream. For a year they seized the complete community, creating their command in a house on the western side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans persuaded them to pull back to the other side of the brook. For a period, villagers could still jump across, though as controls increased they were forced to present identification, despite the fact that everyone knew who they were, and to return at after dark.

Increase of Frontier Measures

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was erected, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The locals could still observe each other by scaling elevations, but on the Soviet side gesturing and calling out were forbidden. A local woman was placed on a Stasi watch list for responding “back at you” to a Bavarian local who greeted her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

It was related to me stories including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a large part of his professional career creating it. Locals were asked early on about how what length of barrier they wanted to preserve. They opted for a portion on the western perimeter, adjacent to where a local resident was able to get away in the dead of night with a climbing device, subsequently the border was significantly strengthened.

Maintained Structures

Two guard towers are maintained alongside a series of exhibits showing the most significant moments in the village’s history. As we move, Lebergen details the restrictions: not a single person could approach 5km of the boundary. Farmers had to obtain special permission to care for their produce; the husband or wife could use the agricultural equipment but never both, lest they attempted to escape. Military personnel stood watch.

Larger Background

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic extended nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the most frequently, but in excess of double the number persons (more than 300) lost their lives attempting to pass over it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95% of attempts to flee failed.

Hamlet Existence

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who adjusted to living in the grey zone between a pair of political systems by avoiding attention and caring for their farms. They nor did they backed the East German authorities nor fought it, Robert Lebegern states.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a sort of pilgrimage. About 15,000 came to visit every year, viewing tools in possession, to stare – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

Twenty five years after unification, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a fictional village like Mödlareuth, led to fresh interest.

Present-Day Developments

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, boutique, cinema room and large car park – is likely to