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An creek so narrow you hardly got your ankles wet split a village for more than four decades. Because of a chance of geography, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, pastures and stunning views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was marked first by a barrier and then by a barricade. US troops dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

Months after their own division was opened, and prior to their nation had unified again in 1990, a collection of villagers started commemorating their past. The effort is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the demolition of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not completely ready. Speaking to the villagers who lived through the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an cruel separation, which tore relatives apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which tore families into pieces and turned local residents into strangers.”

Bygone Background

Right from its founding in 1810, the community cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for assigning all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the oddity was never an obstacle in the path of the residents drinking in the very same inn, going to the same church and sending their kids to the same educational institution.

Following WWII Split

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. As soon as they arrived, the Russians put up timber poles by the stream. For a annual period they occupied the whole village, setting up their command in a house on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to retreat to the other side of the creek. For a period, locals could still jump across, though as controls increased they were obliged to present identification, despite the fact that each person understood who they were, and to return at after dark.

Increase of Frontier Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was erected, with mines, tank traps and guard posts. The locals could continue to see each other by scaling hills, but on the east side signaling and shouting were prohibited. A female resident was added to a Stasi watch list for answering “likewise” to a Bavarian local who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Development

It was related to me narratives including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent much of his occupational time creating it. Locals were consulted at an early stage about how what length of structure they wanted to maintain. They opted for a section on the western fringe, near where one of their own managed to escape in the darkest hours with a ladder, after which the border was significantly fortified.

Maintained Installations

2 observation towers are preserved together with a collection of tableaux illustrating the most dramatic events in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we move, Lebergen enumerates the rules: nobody could come within 5km of the frontier. Rural residents had to obtain particular approval to care for their crops; the partner could use the harvesting machine but never the two, in case they attempted to make a run for it. Armed guards kept guard.

Wider Context

The frontier between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic ran 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the north to the south in the south. Berlin is commemorated and documented the most, but in excess of twice as many persons (more than 300) were killed trying to pass over it in provincial zones than in the urban center. the director reminds me that almost all of escape attempts failed.

Community Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who accommodated to dwelling in the uncertain territory between two ideological spheres by staying low-profile and tending to their fields. They did not backed the communist regime nor fought it, the director states.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a type of pilgrimage. Roughly 15,000 visited every year, viewing tools in their hands, to look – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after unification, Tannbach, a television program about a fictional community similar to Mödlareuth, led to fresh curiosity.

Modern Evolutions

The opening of the new museum – with a restaurant, shop, movie theater and big car park – is expected to