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An creek so shallow you hardly got your ankles wet separated a settlement for in excess of four decades of time. Because of a chance of landscape, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by coniferous woods, fields and stunning scenery, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the misfortune to span Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a boundary that was established first by a barrier and then by a partition. American soldiers called it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Several months after their own barrier was breached, and prior to their state had become one in 1990, a collection of villagers set about documenting their past. The work is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not entirely ready. Addressing the residents who experienced the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an cruel separation, which ripped households apart and turned neighbours into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an inhuman split, which pulled households asunder and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Historical Context

Even at its creation in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most renowned for assigning all its men the title Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the oddity never stood in the way of the locals gathering in the identical tavern, visiting the same church and enrolling their kids to the same learning center.

Following WWII Separation

Then came the World War II. Immediately after they appeared, the Soviet forces erected wood stakes by the stream. For a annual period they occupied the complete village, creating their control center in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces persuaded them to retreat to the other side of the creek. For a period, locals could still jump across, though as controls tightened they were obliged to show ID, even though all was aware who they were, and to go back at night.

Increase of Boundary Controls

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal closing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was constructed, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The residents could still view each other by ascending elevations, but on the east side waving and calling out were forbidden. A female resident was placed on a GDR intelligence watch list for responding “likewise” to a West German villager who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Exhibition Center Creation

I heard accounts such as these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has devoted much of his professional career developing it. Villagers were polled early on about how what length of barrier they desired to maintain. They selected a portion on the western perimeter, near where one of their own managed to get away in the darkest hours with a climbing device, after which the frontier was heavily reinforced.

Maintained Structures

Two guard towers are preserved in addition to a set of tableaux showing the most significant events in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we move, Lebergen details the restrictions: no one could get closer than 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain particular approval to care for their crops; the partner could use the combine harvester but never both, for fear that they sought to flee. Military personnel stood watch.

Wider Context

The border between the Federal Republic and the East Germany stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the north to here in the south. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most frequently, but more than twice as many individuals (exceeding 300) were killed attempting to traverse it in rural areas than in the big city. Robert Lebegern tells me that 95% of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Hamlet Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or skilled workers, who adjusted to dwelling in the ambiguous area between 2 ideological spheres by staying low-profile and tending to their fields. They did not backed the East German authorities nor fought it, Robert Lebegern states.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the settlement became a sort of destination. Approximately 15k came to see annually, viewing tools in their hands, to gawp – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

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

Modern Developments

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