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An stream so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet split a village for over four decades of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by coniferous woods, fields and stunning views, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the misfortune to span the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a border that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. US troops nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

A few months after their own division was torn down, and even before their nation had unified again in 1990, a collection of local people started commemorating their history. The work is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly inaugurated by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show was not entirely ready. Addressing the residents who lived through the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an brutal separation, which ripped families into pieces and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel division, which pulled relatives asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Historical Context

Starting at its creation in 1810, the village straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most famous for giving all its men the designation Heinrich and counting them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the peculiarity never stood in the manner of the inhabitants drinking in the identical inn, going to the very same church and placing their children to the same learning center.

Following WWII Separation

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. As soon as they arrived, the Russian troops put up wood stakes by the creek. For a annual period they took over the whole hamlet, setting up their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers persuaded them to pull back to the other side of the stream. For a while, residents could continue to hop over, though as limitations tightened they were obliged to present ID, despite the fact that all understood who they were, and to go back at night.

Intensification of Frontier Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was built, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and guard posts. The locals could still observe each other by scaling elevations, but on the east side gesturing and calling out were forbidden. One woman was added to a GDR intelligence surveillance list for replying “same to you” to a Bavarian local who greeted her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Development

It was related to me stories like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a large part of his working life building it. Residents were asked early on about how what length of wall they wanted to preserve. They selected a portion on the western edge, adjacent to where a local resident was able to escape in the dead of night with a ladder, following which the border was heavily reinforced.

Preserved Installations

Two watchtowers are conserved together with a collection of tableaux showing the most significant moments in the community’s history. As we stroll, Lebergen details the rules: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Farmers had to obtain special permission to look after their fields; the husband or wife could operate the combine harvester but not the two, lest they sought to escape. Armed guards stood watch.

Broader Perspective

The boundary between Western Germany and the GDR ran 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is commemorated and documented the greatest, but over double the number persons (exceeding 300) were killed trying to traverse it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern tells me that 95% of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Community Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or skilled workers, who adjusted to dwelling in the uncertain territory between a pair of political systems by staying low-profile and looking after their farms. They nor did they backed the communist regime nor resisted it, Lebegern clarifies.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the settlement became a kind of site of interest. Approximately fifteen thousand came to visit every year, optical devices in possession, to stare – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after merger, the TV show, a television program about a fictional community similar to Mödlareuth, caused new attention.

Current Evolutions

The opening of the new museum – with a restaurant, shop, film screening area and sizable car park – is expected to