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An creek so shallow you barely got your feet wet separated a village for more than four decades worth of time. Because of a chance of landscape, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by coniferous woods, meadows and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the misfortune to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a border that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a partition. US troops nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Memorialising History

Months after their own barrier was torn down, and even before their nation had reunified in 1990, a collection of villagers started commemorating their heritage. The effort is close to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth remembrance of the demolition of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was officially inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display wasn’t quite finished. Speaking to the residents who endured the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were observers of an inhuman division, which ripped relatives into pieces and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel split, which tore relatives asunder and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Bygone Context

Right from its establishment in 1810, the village cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most renowned for giving all its men the title Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the manner of the inhabitants drinking in the same tavern, attending the same place of worship and placing their children to the same learning center.

Post-War Division

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. The moment they came, the Russians installed timber poles by the creek. For a year they occupied the entire hamlet, establishing their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The Americans convinced them to retreat to the other side of the brook. For a time, villagers could still cross over, though as limitations increased they were obliged to show identity papers, although all knew who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Increase of Border Measures

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was constructed, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and guard posts. The residents could continue to observe each other by climbing hills, but on the Soviet side gesturing and calling out were forbidden. A local woman was placed on a East German secret police surveillance list for replying “same to you” to a West German local who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Creation

I was told accounts like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a large part of his occupational time building it. Residents were consulted early on about how what length of wall they desired to preserve. They chose a portion on the west edge, close to where a villager succeeded to escape in the middle of the night with a ladder, following which the frontier was heavily reinforced.

Preserved Buildings

A pair of guard towers are conserved together with a series of exhibits showing the most impactful dates in the village’s chronicle. As we move, Robert Lebegern enumerates the restrictions: no one could come within 5km of the border. Agricultural workers required special permission to care for their fields; the spouse could use the harvesting machine but not both, for fear that they sought to escape. Soldiers stood watch.

Wider Background

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic ran 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the north to here in the south. Berlin is remembered and documented the most frequently, but over twice as many individuals (more than 300) died attempting to traverse it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Lebegern tells me that 95 percent of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Hamlet Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or artisans, who adapted to living in the uncertain territory between two political systems by staying low-profile and caring for their land. They nor did they backed the East German authorities nor opposed it, the director explains.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a type of pilgrimage. About 15,000 visited each year, binoculars in possession, to gawp – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after unification, the TV show, a broadcast production about a fictional community resembling Mödlareuth, caused new interest.

Modern Changes

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, boutique, film screening area and sizable vehicle area – is likely to