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An creek so narrow you scarcely got your feet wet separated a village for in excess of four decades. Due to a quirk of topography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement encircled by coniferous woods, meadows and breathtaking views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to span the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was marked first by a fence and then by a barricade. American soldiers dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Memorialising the Past

Several months after their own division was opened, and even before their country had reunified in 1990, a collection of local people set about commemorating their past. The project is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not completely ready. Telling the residents who lived through the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an inhuman split, which pulled relatives into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

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

Bygone Origins

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for assigning all its male descendants the title Heinrich and counting them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the path of the locals gathering in the identical tavern, going to the identical place of worship and placing their children to the identical school.

After the War Separation

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. Immediately after they arrived, the Soviet forces erected wooden posts by the brook. For a twelve months they occupied the complete village, setting up their command in a building on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The US forces urged them to pull back back over the stream. For a time, residents could still jump across, though as limitations became stricter they were required to show identity papers, although all knew who they were, and to go back at night.

Intensification of Border Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was built, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and guard posts. The villagers could still see each other by climbing elevations, but on the eastern side gesturing and shouting were forbidden. One woman was added to a East German secret police watch list for replying “back at you” to a western resident who greeted her “good new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

It was related to me accounts like these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a large part of his working life developing it. Villagers were consulted in the initial phases about how much wall they wished to preserve. They chose a portion on the western perimeter, close to where a local resident was able to flee in the darkest hours with a ladder, after which the frontier was substantially strengthened.

Preserved Buildings

Two watchtowers are maintained in addition to a set of tableaux depicting the most dramatic events in the hamlet’s past. As we walk, Robert Lebegern enumerates the restrictions: not a single person could approach 5km of the frontier. Rural residents had to obtain specific authorization to look after their produce; the partner could use the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances the pair, for fear that they attempted to escape. Soldiers kept guard.

Wider Perspective

The boundary between West Germany and the East Germany ran nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the north to this location in the south. Berlin is commemorated and documented the most frequently, but over twice as many people (exceeding 300) were killed trying to pass over it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. Lebegern informs me that 95 percent of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Community Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were rural laborers or skilled workers, who adapted to dwelling in the uncertain territory between two belief systems by avoiding attention and looking after their farms. They neither backed the socialist government nor resisted it, Lebegern clarifies.

Interest

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a sort of destination. Approximately 15,000 visited each year, binoculars in their hands, to stare – and then rapidly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after reunification, the television series, a TV series about a imaginary community resembling Mödlareuth, caused new curiosity.

Current Evolutions

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, store, cinema room and big parking lot – is expected to