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An stream so low you barely got your ankles wet separated a village for more than four decades of time. By an accident of topography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by pine forests, meadows and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the misfortune to span Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a border that was marked first by a barrier and then by a partition. American soldiers dubbed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating History

Months after their own division was torn down, and prior to their state had become one in 1990, a collection of residents set about memorialising their past. The work is close to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth remembrance of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display wasn’t quite prepared. Speaking to the residents who endured the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were bystanders of an cruel split, which tore relatives apart and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which pulled households into pieces and turned local residents into aliens.”

Past Context

Even at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for giving all its male members the name Heinrich and numbering them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the quirk never stood in the way of the inhabitants gathering in the identical pub, going to the very same religious building and enrolling their young ones to the very same learning center.

Following WWII Division

Then came the second world war. Immediately after they appeared, the Soviet forces erected wooden posts by the brook. For a twelve months they occupied the entire hamlet, creating their control center in a house on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans persuaded them to withdraw across the stream. For a period, villagers could still jump across, though as limitations increased they were forced to show ID, although each person understood who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Intensification of Frontier Controls

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was constructed, with mines, anti-tank obstacles and guard posts. The residents could continue to view each other by ascending elevations, but on the eastern side gesturing and shouting were banned. A local woman was placed on a East German secret police watch list for replying “back at you” to a West German resident who greeted her “good new year”.

Exhibition Center Establishment

I heard stories such as these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated much of his professional career creating it. Locals were consulted early on about how what length of structure they wished to preserve. They selected a portion on the Bavarian edge, close to where a villager was able to get away in the dead of night with a ladder, subsequently the border was heavily strengthened.

Maintained Installations

Two watchtowers are maintained in addition to a collection of displays illustrating the most dramatic moments in the village’s past. As we move, the director details the restrictions: nobody could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Farmers had to obtain special permission to look after their crops; the husband or wife could use the harvesting machine but never the two, for fear that they tried to make a run for it. Military personnel kept guard.

Wider Perspective

The frontier between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and honored the most frequently, but more than two times more people (well over 300) died seeking to cross it in rural areas than in the big city. the director tells me that 95 percent of efforts to cross failed.

Hamlet Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were agricultural workers or artisans, who adjusted to dwelling in the grey zone between a pair of belief systems by staying low-profile and caring for their farms. They nor did they backed the East German authorities nor resisted it, the director states.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a type of destination. Roughly 15,000 came to see annually, optical devices in possession, to gawp – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after merger, Tannbach, a TV series about a fictional community similar to Mödlareuth, led to new attention.

Modern Developments

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, store, film screening area and big parking lot – is likely to