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A creek so low you hardly got your ankles wet split a settlement for more than four decades of time. By an accident of geography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement encircled by coniferous woods, meadows and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to straddle Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a border that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a barricade. United States military personnel dubbed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

Months after their own barrier was opened, and even before their country had become one in 1990, a group of local people began memorialising their history. The effort is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was publicly launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not completely prepared. Addressing the residents who experienced the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an cruel split, which pulled households asunder and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an cruel split, which ripped households apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Historical Origins

Starting at its creation in 1810, the community cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for giving all its male descendants the title Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the way of the residents gathering in the same tavern, visiting the very same place of worship and sending their young ones to the very same school.

Following WWII Split

Next arrived the World War II. As soon as they appeared, the Soviet forces erected wood stakes by the creek. For a twelve months they occupied the whole hamlet, creating their control center in a building on the Bavarian side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers convinced them to withdraw across the stream. For a while, locals could still hop over, though as limitations became stricter they were required to show identification, although each person knew who they were, and to go back at evening.

Intensification of Frontier Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was erected, with mines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The locals could still view each other by climbing elevations, but on the east side gesturing and yelling were forbidden. A local woman was placed on a East German secret police watch list for replying “same to you” to a Bavarian resident who wished her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

I heard narratives like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a significant portion of his professional career developing it. Residents were polled in the initial phases about how much barrier they desired to keep. They selected a stretch on the Bavarian edge, near where one of their own succeeded to get away in the middle of the night with a ladder, subsequently the boundary was substantially strengthened.

Preserved Installations

Two watchtowers are maintained together with a set of displays showing the most dramatic events in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we stroll, Lebergen lists the rules: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the border. Rural residents had to obtain special permission to care for their fields; the spouse could use the agricultural equipment but not the pair, lest they sought to flee. Military personnel were on duty.

Larger Perspective

The border between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic ran 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the most, but in excess of two times more individuals (well over 300) were killed attempting to traverse it in countryside regions than in the big city. the director reminds me that almost all of efforts to cross did not succeed.

Hamlet Existence

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or artisans, who adapted to residing in the grey zone between 2 political systems by keeping their heads down and caring for their fields. They neither supported the socialist government nor resisted it, Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the village became a sort of destination. About 15,000 came to see annually, optical devices in their hands, to stare – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after unification, the television series, a television program about a fictional hamlet similar to Mödlareuth, caused new attention.

Present-Day Changes

The inauguration of the new museum – with a restaurant, boutique, movie theater and large vehicle area – is expected to