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A creek so low you barely got your feet wet split a village for in excess of four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by evergreen groves, fields and stunning scenery, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the misfortune to span the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a border that was marked first by a barrier and then by a partition. US troops nicknamed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating History

Months after their own barrier was torn down, and before their country had reunified in 1990, a assembly of residents set about memorialising their past. The project is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display wasn’t quite prepared. Speaking to the villagers who endured the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an cruel split, which tore families asunder and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel division, which pulled relatives apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Historical Context

Right from its establishment in 1810, the community cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for bestowing all its male descendants the title Heinrich and counting them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the oddity never stood in the path of the residents gathering in the identical tavern, going to the identical place of worship and enrolling their young ones to the identical educational institution.

Following WWII Split

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. The moment they arrived, the Soviet forces erected timber poles by the brook. For a year they took over the complete village, creating their headquarters in a building on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers convinced them to withdraw back over the stream. For a time, residents could still hop over, though as controls tightened they were forced to display ID, despite the fact that each person knew who they were, and to come back at evening.

Intensification of Frontier Controls

After that, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal closing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was erected, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and guard posts. The residents could still see each other by ascending elevations, but on the east side gesturing and calling out were prohibited. One woman was added to a GDR intelligence surveillance list for responding “likewise” to a western resident who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Exhibition Center Creation

I was told accounts including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent much of his working life building it. Residents were consulted at an early stage about how much wall they wished to preserve. They chose a section on the Bavarian edge, adjacent to where one of their own succeeded to flee in the dead of night with a scaling tool, following which the boundary was heavily strengthened.

Conserved Structures

Two guard towers are maintained alongside a series of exhibits showing the most significant dates in the community’s history. As we walk, Lebergen lists the restrictions: not a single person could approach 5km of the border. Farmers needed special permission to look after their produce; the partner could work the harvesting machine but under no circumstances both, for fear that they attempted to escape. Armed guards were on duty.

Broader Context

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the East Germany stretched 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the north to here in the south. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the most, but over two times more individuals (more than 300) died trying to pass over it in provincial zones than in the big city. the director informs me that almost all of escape attempts did not succeed.

Community Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or artisans, who accommodated to residing in the uncertain territory between two belief systems by staying low-profile and looking after their land. They nor did they supported the East German authorities nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a sort of site of interest. Approximately fifteen thousand came to see every year, binoculars in their hands, to gawp – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after unification, the television series, a TV series about a fictional hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh interest.

Current Changes

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, shop, movie theater and sizable car park – is likely to