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A creek so narrow you barely got your ankles wet split a community for over four decades of time. Because of a chance of geography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by pine forests, pastures and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a frontier that was marked first by a fence and then by a barricade. American soldiers nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Commemorating History

Several months after their own wall was torn down, and even before their state had become one in 1990, a assembly of villagers started documenting their past. The project is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the fall of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not entirely ready. Addressing the residents who lived through the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an brutal separation, which tore families apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an brutal division, which pulled households into pieces and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Historical Context

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for giving all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the oddity did not stand in the path of the inhabitants gathering in the same pub, attending the very same church and placing their children to the very same school.

Post-War Division

Then came the global conflict. Immediately after they arrived, the Soviet forces installed timber poles by the creek. For a twelve months they took over the whole village, setting up their control center in a house on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The US forces convinced them to withdraw across the creek. For a time, locals could continue to hop over, though as controls tightened they were forced to present identification, even though everyone was aware who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Escalation of Border Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official closing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was erected, with mines, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The villagers could continue to observe each other by climbing hills, but on the eastern side waving and calling out were banned. A female resident was put on a East German secret police watch list for answering “same to you” to a western villager who wished her “good new year”.

Museum Development

I was told accounts including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a significant portion of his working life developing it. Locals were consulted early on about how much barrier they desired to preserve. They opted for a portion on the western edge, adjacent to where one of their own succeeded to escape in the dead of night with a ladder, following which the border was heavily strengthened.

Conserved Installations

A pair of guard towers are conserved alongside a set of exhibits illustrating the most dramatic dates in the community’s past. As we walk, the director lists the rules: not a single person could approach 5km of the boundary. Rural residents needed specific authorization to tend to their produce; the husband or wife could work the agricultural equipment but not the pair, in case they attempted to escape. Armed guards kept guard.

Larger Context

The border between West Germany and the GDR stretched 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the greatest, but in excess of double the number individuals (more than 300) died attempting to traverse it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern tells me that 95% of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Community Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or artisans, who accommodated to residing in the uncertain territory between a pair of belief systems by avoiding attention and caring for their farms. They nor did they endorsed the communist regime nor fought it, the director clarifies.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a kind of pilgrimage. Approximately 15,000 visited every year, binoculars in possession, to look – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the TV show, a TV series about a imaginary hamlet similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh interest.

Present-Day Evolutions

The launch of the recently established museum – with a cafe, shop, film screening area and large car park – is likely to