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A creek so shallow you hardly got your ankles wet separated a community for in excess of four decades. Due to a quirk of landscape, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village surrounded by pine forests, pastures and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to cross the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a boundary that was established first by a enclosure and then by a wall. US troops called it Little Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

A few months after their own division was torn down, and even before their country had unified again in 1990, a group of local people began documenting their heritage. The effort is close to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the fall of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially inaugurated by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition was not entirely ready. Telling the villagers who experienced the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were observers of an cruel separation, which pulled families asunder and turned neighbors into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which tore households asunder and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

Historical Context

Starting at its founding in 1810, the village spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for giving all its male members the title Heinrich and counting them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the path of the inhabitants gathering in the very same tavern, going to the very same place of worship and sending their children to the very same school.

Post-War Split

Subsequently occurred the second world war. As soon as they arrived, the Soviet forces put up wooden posts by the brook. For a twelve months they occupied the complete village, setting up their command in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers convinced them to withdraw across the stream. For a while, villagers could continue to cross over, though as restrictions increased they were obliged to present identity papers, although each person understood who they were, and to return at evening.

Escalation of Boundary Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official sealing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was erected, with explosives, tank traps and guard posts. The residents could continue to see each other by climbing hills, but on the eastern side gesturing and yelling were banned. A local woman was put on a Stasi monitoring list for answering “likewise” to a western resident who wished her “good new year”.

Exhibition Center Creation

It was related to me stories like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a significant portion of his occupational time building it. Residents were asked at an early stage about how how long a section structure they desired to keep. They opted for a section on the Bavarian edge, close to where a local resident managed to escape in the middle of the night with a ladder, after which the frontier was significantly strengthened.

Preserved Installations

2 watchtowers are maintained in addition to a collection of displays depicting the most dramatic events in the community’s chronicle. As we stroll, Lebergen details the rules: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the border. Agricultural workers needed special permission to look after their fields; the husband or wife could operate the combine harvester but under no circumstances the pair, for fear that they attempted to flee. Armed guards stood watch.

Wider Perspective

The frontier between West Germany and the East Germany extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic Sea in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and documented the most, but more than two times more persons (exceeding 300) died seeking to cross it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern tells me that almost all of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Community Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or artisans, who adjusted to living in the grey zone between a pair of political systems by staying low-profile and caring for their fields. They nor did they endorsed the communist regime nor opposed it, Lebegern states.

Interest

For visitors, however, the settlement became a sort of pilgrimage. About fifteen thousand came to see annually, optical devices in their hands, to stare – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

25 years after reunification, the TV show, a television program about a made-up community resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in new curiosity.

Modern Changes

The opening of the recently established museum – with a cafe, boutique, cinema room and large vehicle area – is likely to