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A stream so shallow you scarcely got your feet wet separated a village for more than four decades. Because of a chance of geography, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by evergreen groves, pastures and stunning scenery, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a border that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a partition. American soldiers nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

Several months after their own wall was breached, and prior to their nation had unified again in 1990, a group of villagers started memorialising their past. The effort is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display was not completely finished. Telling the villagers who experienced the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were observers of an inhuman split, which tore relatives into pieces and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal split, which tore families asunder and turned local residents into aliens.”

Historical Context

Starting at its creation in 1810, the community spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most renowned for bestowing all its male descendants the title Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier told the crowd, the oddity never stood in the path of the inhabitants drinking in the same tavern, going to the identical place of worship and sending their kids to the very same educational institution.

Post-War Division

Subsequently occurred the second world war. As soon as they appeared, the Russian troops erected wood stakes by the stream. For a year they seized the entire village, creating their command in a house on the western side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers urged them to retreat to the other side of the stream. For a period, villagers could still cross over, though as controls increased they were obliged to display ID, although everyone knew who they were, and to come back at evening.

Increase of Border Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was built, with explosives, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The villagers could still view each other by ascending slopes, but on the eastern side signaling and yelling were forbidden. A local woman was placed on a East German secret police monitoring list for replying “back at you” to a Bavarian resident who said her “prosperous new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

I was told stories such as these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated much of his professional career building it. Locals were consulted at an early stage about how what length of wall they desired to keep. They selected a stretch on the western fringe, adjacent to where a villager was able to get away in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, after which the frontier was substantially fortified.

Maintained Buildings

2 watchtowers are maintained alongside a series of tableaux showing the most impactful dates in the village’s history. As we move, Robert Lebegern details the restrictions: no one could come within 5km of the frontier. Rural residents required particular approval to care for their crops; the husband or wife could use the harvesting machine but not both, lest they attempted to make a run for it. Armed guards kept guard.

Larger Context

The border between the Federal Republic and the East Germany extended 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and honored the most, but over twice as many individuals (exceeding 300) were killed seeking to pass over it in rural areas than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95% of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Village Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or artisans, who adjusted to residing in the uncertain territory between 2 belief systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their land. They did not backed the East German authorities nor fought it, the director states.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the village became a kind of pilgrimage. Approximately 15,000 came to visit annually, binoculars in their hands, to stare – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

25 years after unification, the TV show, a television program about a fictional village resembling Mödlareuth, caused renewed curiosity.

Modern Changes

The launch of the recently established museum – with a cafe, boutique, movie theater and sizable vehicle area – is probable to