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A brook so shallow you hardly got your ankles wet divided a settlement for over four decades of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by coniferous woods, pastures and stunning vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the misfortune to cross Bavaria, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a border that was marked first by a fence and then by a barricade. American soldiers called it Small Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

Months after their own wall was torn down, and prior to their nation had become one in 1990, a group of residents started memorialising their heritage. The project is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the fall of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the display was not completely prepared. Addressing the locals who endured the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were observers of an inhuman split, which tore families apart and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel division, which tore families asunder and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

Bygone Origins

Right from its founding in 1810, the village spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most renowned for bestowing all its men the title Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the quirk never stood in the way of the inhabitants socializing in the very same inn, visiting the very same religious building and enrolling their children to the identical learning center.

After the War Division

Next arrived the World War II. The moment they came, the Russian troops put up wooden posts by the stream. For a year they took over the complete hamlet, creating their control center in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The Americans persuaded them to withdraw across the stream. For a while, locals could still hop over, though as restrictions tightened they were required to display identity papers, despite the fact that everyone was aware who they were, and to go back at night.

Escalation of Frontier Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was erected, with mines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The residents could still view each other by ascending hills, but on the eastern side gesturing and yelling were prohibited. A female resident was added to a Stasi watch list for replying “same to you” to a western villager who wished her “happy new year”.

Museum Development

I was told narratives like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent much of his working life developing it. Locals were asked early on about how what length of barrier they wanted to preserve. They chose a stretch on the west perimeter, close to where one of their own succeeded to escape in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, following which the border was significantly fortified.

Maintained Structures

A pair of observation towers are conserved alongside a collection of exhibits illustrating the most dramatic moments in the community’s past. As we walk, Lebergen enumerates the regulations: no one could approach 5km of the boundary. Farmers required special permission to care for their crops; the spouse could use the combine harvester but never the two, lest they sought to make a run for it. Soldiers kept guard.

Larger Background

The frontier between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most frequently, but in excess of two times more individuals (exceeding 300) were killed attempting to cross it in countryside regions than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95% of attempts to flee failed.

Community Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who accommodated to dwelling in the ambiguous area between two political systems by staying low-profile and looking after their fields. They nor did they backed the socialist government nor resisted it, the director clarifies.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the village became a type of destination. Approximately fifteen thousand visited every year, viewing tools in hand, to stare – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

25 years after reunification, the television series, a TV series about a made-up community resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh attention.

Present-Day Developments

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, shop, film screening area and large parking lot – is probable to