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An brook so shallow you scarcely got your feet wet divided a settlement for in excess of four decades of time. Due to a quirk of geography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by coniferous woods, pastures and stunning scenery, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a wall. American soldiers called it Small Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

A few months after their own wall was opened, and prior to their nation had reunified in 1990, a collection of local people started memorialising their heritage. The work is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the fall of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display was not completely finished. Addressing the residents who endured the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an cruel separation, which ripped relatives asunder and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal division, which tore relatives into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Bygone Origins

Right from its creation in 1810, the village straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most famous for giving all its men the name Heinrich and counting them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the quirk did not stand in the way of the inhabitants drinking in the same pub, visiting the identical place of worship and placing their kids to the identical school.

Post-War Separation

Then came the global conflict. As soon as they appeared, the Soviet forces installed wood stakes by the stream. For a twelve months they occupied the whole village, establishing their command in a house on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces urged them to retreat to the other side of the stream. For a while, residents could continue to hop over, though as controls became stricter they were required to present identity papers, although everyone understood who they were, and to go back at night.

Escalation of Boundary Measures

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was built, with mines, tank traps and observation points. The villagers could still view each other by scaling slopes, but on the east side waving and shouting were prohibited. A local woman was put on a Stasi surveillance list for responding “same to you” to a western villager who said her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

It was related to me accounts such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a significant portion of his occupational time creating it. Residents were asked at an early stage about how much barrier they wanted to maintain. They opted for a stretch on the west perimeter, near where a local resident managed to escape in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, after which the boundary was heavily reinforced.

Conserved Buildings

Two observation towers are conserved in addition to a series of exhibits showing the most impactful moments in the community’s chronicle. As we stroll, Lebergen lists the restrictions: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Rural residents required special permission to tend to their fields; the husband or wife could use the harvesting machine but not both, lest they tried to flee. Soldiers were on duty.

Wider Perspective

The border between Western Germany and the GDR extended 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and documented the greatest, but more than twice as many individuals (exceeding 300) lost their lives attempting to traverse it in provincial zones than in the big city. Robert Lebegern tells me that 95 percent of efforts to cross failed.

Hamlet Existence

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or artisans, who adapted to living in the grey zone between 2 political systems by avoiding attention and looking after their fields. They did not supported the communist regime nor fought it, Lebegern explains.

Interest

For tourists, however, the hamlet became a type of site of interest. About 15,000 came to see each year, viewing tools in their hands, to stare – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after unification, Tannbach, a TV series about a fictional community similar to Mödlareuth, led to renewed interest.

Modern Developments

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, shop, movie theater and large vehicle area – is probable to