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A creek so low you scarcely got your feet wet split a settlement for in excess of four decades. By an accident of landscape, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by coniferous woods, fields and stunning vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was marked first by a fence and then by a partition. American soldiers called it Small Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Several months after their own barrier was torn down, and before their nation had reunified in 1990, a group of residents set about commemorating their history. The project is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was formally inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not completely ready. Speaking to the locals who endured the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which tore relatives into pieces and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an cruel separation, which tore households apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

Past Origins

Even at its creation in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most renowned for giving all its men the title Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the quirk did not stand in the way of the residents gathering in the identical tavern, going to the very same religious building and sending their kids to the identical educational institution.

After the War Separation

Next arrived the second world war. The moment they appeared, the Russians installed wood stakes by the creek. For a year they took over the whole hamlet, setting up their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans convinced them to pull back back over the brook. For a period, locals could continue to cross over, though as restrictions tightened they were obliged to present identification, even though everyone understood who they were, and to return at after dark.

Intensification of Frontier Measures

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was constructed, with explosives, tank traps and guard posts. The residents could still see each other by scaling hills, but on the Soviet side waving and calling out were forbidden. One woman was put on a GDR intelligence watch list for responding “back at you” to a Bavarian villager who greeted her “happy new year”.

Exhibition Center Creation

I heard accounts including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a significant portion of his working life creating it. Locals were consulted early on about how how long a section wall they desired to maintain. They selected a portion on the western edge, near where a local resident succeeded to flee in the dead of night with a scaling tool, following which the boundary was heavily fortified.

Conserved Structures

2 guard towers are conserved alongside a set of exhibits illustrating the most impactful dates in the village’s past. As we move, the director enumerates the regulations: nobody could come within 5km of the boundary. Farmers had to obtain specific authorization to tend to their crops; the partner could use the combine harvester but not the pair, for fear that they attempted to escape. Armed guards kept guard.

Larger Perspective

The border 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 commemorated and memorialised the most frequently, but more than twice as many persons (well over 300) died seeking to pass over it in countryside regions than in the big city. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95% of efforts to cross did not succeed.

Village Existence

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or skilled workers, who accommodated to residing in the grey zone between 2 political systems by avoiding attention and caring for their farms. They neither supported the socialist government nor opposed it, Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the settlement became a sort of destination. About fifteen thousand visited every year, binoculars in possession, to stare – and then rapidly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after reunification, Tannbach, a television program about a fictional community like Mödlareuth, caused new curiosity.

Modern Developments

The opening of the recently established museum – with a cafe, boutique, movie theater and large parking lot – is likely to