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An stream so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet split a community for over four decades worth of time. By an accident of landscape, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, fields and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a boundary that was marked first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. United States military personnel nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

A few months after their own barrier was torn down, and before their nation had unified again in 1990, a collection of villagers began commemorating their heritage. The project is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was publicly launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show was not completely finished. Speaking to the villagers who lived through the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which ripped families asunder and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal split, which pulled families into pieces and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

Historical Origins

Right from its creation in 1810, the village cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage best known for assigning all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and counting them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the oddity never stood in the way of the inhabitants drinking in the identical pub, visiting the very same church and sending their young ones to the identical school.

Following WWII Split

Then came the World War II. The moment they came, the Soviet forces erected wood stakes by the stream. For a year they seized the whole hamlet, establishing their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans persuaded them to withdraw back over the creek. For a while, residents could continue to jump across, though as restrictions became stricter they were obliged to present ID, although everyone was aware who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Increase of Frontier Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal sealing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was built, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The locals could continue to view each other by climbing slopes, but on the eastern side signaling and shouting were forbidden. A local woman was put on a GDR intelligence surveillance list for replying “same to you” to a western resident who greeted her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

It was related to me narratives including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated a large part of his professional career creating it. Villagers were consulted at an early stage about how much barrier they wished to keep. They opted for a portion on the western fringe, near where a villager was able to flee in the darkest hours with a climbing device, subsequently the border was significantly fortified.

Conserved Structures

A pair of guard towers are maintained in addition to a collection of displays showing the most dramatic events in the village’s past. As we stroll, Lebergen details the restrictions: nobody could get closer than 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain particular approval to look after their crops; the spouse could work the agricultural equipment but not the pair, in case they attempted to escape. Armed guards kept guard.

Larger Context

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south in the south. Berlin is remembered and documented the greatest, but in excess of twice as many persons (well over 300) were killed seeking to pass over it in provincial zones than in the big city. Lebegern reminds me that 95 percent of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Village Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or skilled workers, who adjusted to living in the ambiguous area between 2 belief systems by staying low-profile and tending to their fields. They did not endorsed the communist regime nor fought it, the director states.

Interest

For visitors, however, the settlement became a kind of pilgrimage. Roughly 15,000 came to visit every year, viewing tools in possession, to gawp – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after reunification, the TV show, a TV series about a imaginary hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, led to new attention.

Modern Evolutions

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, store, cinema room and big car park – is likely to