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An stream so shallow you scarcely got your ankles wet separated a settlement for in excess of four decades. By an accident of topography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by evergreen groves, pastures and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a border that was marked first by a barrier and then by a barricade. United States military personnel nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

Several months after their own wall was opened, and prior to their country had become one in 1990, a group of villagers began documenting their past. The project is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the demolition of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was formally inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show was not entirely ready. Addressing the residents who lived through the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an brutal division, which pulled households apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which ripped households into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Historical Background

Right from its founding in 1810, the community cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most famous for bestowing all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and counting them in order by birth. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the quirk was never an obstacle in the way of the locals gathering in the same tavern, visiting the identical religious building and placing their children to the identical learning center.

Post-War Split

Subsequently occurred the second world war. Immediately after they came, the Soviet forces put up timber poles by the brook. For a year they took over the complete hamlet, setting up their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to retreat back over the creek. For a time, locals could continue to jump across, though as limitations became stricter they were obliged to present ID, even though everyone was aware who they were, and to return at night.

Intensification of Frontier Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was constructed, with mines, tank traps and guard posts. The locals could continue to observe each other by climbing slopes, but on the Soviet side gesturing and calling out were prohibited. A female resident was added to a East German secret police monitoring list for responding “same to you” to a western local who said her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Creation

I heard stories including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a large part of his working life creating it. Residents were consulted in the initial phases about how how long a section structure they desired to keep. They selected a section on the west perimeter, close to where one of their own was able to get away in the darkest hours with a ladder, after which the border was significantly strengthened.

Conserved Structures

Two guard towers are preserved together with a set of exhibits depicting the most significant events in the community’s chronicle. As we move, Lebergen lists the regulations: no one could come within 5km of the frontier. Farmers required special permission to care for their produce; the partner could use the combine harvester but under no circumstances the pair, in case they attempted to flee. Soldiers stood watch.

Larger Perspective

The frontier between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic extended nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the most frequently, but more than double the number persons (exceeding 300) were killed attempting to cross it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. the director reminds me that almost all of efforts to cross failed.

Community Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who adapted to residing in the grey zone between a pair of political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their land. They neither backed the East German authorities nor fought it, Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a sort of destination. Approximately 15k came to visit annually, viewing tools in hand, to gawp – and then rapidly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

Twenty five years after reunification, the TV show, a TV series about a fictional community resembling Mödlareuth, caused renewed attention.

Current Evolutions

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, store, film screening area and large vehicle area – is probable to