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A stream so low you scarcely got your feet wet split a village for more than four decades of time. By an accident of topography, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by coniferous woods, pastures and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a border that was established first by a enclosure and then by a partition. United States military personnel dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating History

A few months after their own wall was breached, and prior to their state had become one in 1990, a assembly of local people began memorialising their heritage. The project is about to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show wasn’t quite prepared. Addressing the villagers who endured the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an cruel split, which pulled relatives asunder and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were observers of an inhuman division, which pulled families apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

Past Origins

Starting at its creation in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a royal family best known for bestowing all its men the title Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the quirk did not stand in the way of the inhabitants socializing in the very same inn, going to the identical church and enrolling their kids to the same school.

Following WWII Division

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. As soon as they arrived, the Russians put up wooden posts by the brook. For a twelve months they seized the whole hamlet, establishing their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces urged them to pull back back over the brook. For a while, locals could still hop over, though as controls increased they were obliged to display identity papers, although everyone was aware who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Intensification of Boundary Controls

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official sealing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was erected, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The residents could still see each other by ascending slopes, but on the Soviet side signaling and shouting were banned. A local woman was put on a Stasi surveillance list for answering “same to you” to a West German local who wished her “good new year”.

Museum Development

It was related to me stories including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has devoted much of his professional career developing it. Villagers were polled at an early stage about how how long a section wall they wanted to keep. They opted for a stretch on the west fringe, near where a local resident succeeded to escape in the dead of night with a scaling tool, after which the frontier was significantly strengthened.

Maintained Buildings

Two observation towers are preserved alongside a collection of tableaux illustrating the most dramatic moments in the community’s chronicle. As we move, Robert Lebegern enumerates the rules: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain specific authorization to look after their crops; the husband or wife could use the combine harvester but under no circumstances both, for fear that they tried to make a run for it. Soldiers kept guard.

Broader Perspective

The border between West Germany and the East Germany extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic Sea in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and honored the most frequently, but more than twice as many persons (well over 300) were killed trying to cross it in provincial zones than in the big city. the director reminds me that 95 percent of efforts to cross failed.

Hamlet Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who adapted to living in the grey zone between a pair of political systems by avoiding attention and looking after their land. They did not endorsed the communist regime nor fought it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the village became a sort of pilgrimage. About fifteen thousand came to see annually, viewing tools in their hands, to stare – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

25 years after reunification, Tannbach, a TV series about a fictional hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed curiosity.

Modern Evolutions

The launch of the new museum – with a coffee shop, boutique, movie theater and sizable parking lot – is probable to