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A brook so low you barely got your ankles wet divided a village for in excess of four decades of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement encircled by coniferous woods, pastures and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a border that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a partition. US troops nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

Several months after their own wall was torn down, and before their nation had reunified in 1990, a collection of residents set about commemorating their heritage. The effort is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the display was not entirely prepared. Addressing the villagers who endured the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an cruel separation, which ripped families apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were observers of an brutal separation, which ripped households into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Bygone Background

Right from its founding in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house best known for giving all its male descendants the name Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the inhabitants gathering in the same tavern, visiting the very same place of worship and placing their kids to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Division

Next arrived the second world war. Immediately after they arrived, the Russians erected timber poles by the stream. For a twelve months they took over the complete community, setting up their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to retreat back over the stream. For a period, locals could still cross over, though as controls became stricter they were obliged to present identification, although all was aware who they were, and to come back at evening.

Increase of Frontier Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal closing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was constructed, with landmines, tank traps and watchtowers. The residents could still view each other by climbing hills, but on the east side gesturing and yelling were forbidden. A female resident was put on a East German secret police watch list for responding “likewise” to a West German resident who wished her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

It was related to me stories including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated much of his professional career creating it. Villagers were consulted in the initial phases about how much structure they wished to keep. They opted for a section on the western edge, near where a villager succeeded to escape in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, following which the frontier was heavily fortified.

Preserved Buildings

Two observation towers are conserved in addition to a collection of exhibits illustrating the most significant dates in the village’s past. As we stroll, the director lists the rules: not a single person could come within 5km of the border. Farmers required specific authorization to tend to their crops; the husband or wife could work the agricultural equipment but not the pair, lest they sought to make a run for it. Soldiers were on duty.

Broader Context

The boundary between Western Germany and the East Germany ran 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the south. Berlin is recalled and honored the most frequently, but more than double the number people (more than 300) were killed seeking to pass over it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95% of escape attempts did not succeed.

Hamlet Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were rural laborers or craftsmen, who adjusted to dwelling in the grey zone between a pair of belief systems by keeping their heads down and tending to their fields. They nor did they endorsed the communist regime nor opposed it, Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a type of site of interest. Roughly 15,000 came to visit every year, binoculars in hand, to stare – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

25 years after merger, Tannbach, a TV series about a imaginary community resembling Mödlareuth, caused fresh attention.

Modern Changes

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, store, cinema room and large parking lot – is probable to