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An stream so narrow you barely got your ankles wet split a village for over four decades. Due to a quirk of geography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by pine forests, pastures and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a frontier that was established first by a fence and then by a wall. US troops called it Mini Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

A few months after their own wall was breached, and even before their state had reunified in 1990, a collection of residents set about documenting their past. The project is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the fall of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was publicly launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not entirely prepared. Addressing the locals who endured the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which ripped households asunder and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an cruel separation, which pulled families apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

Past Context

Right from its founding in 1810, the village cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most famous for assigning all its male descendants the name Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the oddity never stood in the path of the locals socializing in the identical inn, going to the very same religious building and sending their kids to the same school.

After the War Division

Then came the second world war. As soon as they arrived, the Russian troops installed wooden posts by the creek. For a year they occupied the entire community, creating their control center in a dwelling on the western side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers urged them to withdraw to the other side of the creek. For a while, residents could continue to cross over, though as limitations increased they were required to present ID, although all knew who they were, and to go back at night.

Increase of Border Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was built, with explosives, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The residents could still observe each other by climbing hills, but on the Soviet side waving and calling out were forbidden. One woman was put on a Stasi watch list for responding “likewise” to a Bavarian local who said her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

It was related to me stories like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent a large part of his professional career building it. Villagers were consulted at an early stage about how much wall they desired to maintain. They chose a portion on the western fringe, close to where a local resident managed to get away in the middle of the night with a ladder, subsequently the border was substantially strengthened.

Preserved Structures

A pair of watchtowers are preserved in addition to a set of displays showing the most impactful events in the community’s past. As we move, the director enumerates the regulations: not a single person could come within 5km of the frontier. Farmers required particular approval to look after their crops; the spouse could operate the combine harvester but not the pair, lest they tried to escape. Military personnel stood watch.

Broader Context

The border between the Federal Republic and the East Germany extended nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is recalled and honored the greatest, but over double the number people (exceeding 300) died seeking to pass over it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. Lebegern tells me that 95 percent of escape attempts failed.

Community Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were rural laborers or artisans, who adjusted to living in the grey zone between 2 ideological spheres by avoiding attention and caring for their farms. They did not endorsed the communist regime nor resisted it, Lebegern clarifies.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a type of pilgrimage. About fifteen thousand came to see every year, binoculars in hand, to gawp – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after unification, the TV show, a TV series about a made-up village like Mödlareuth, caused new curiosity.

Present-Day Changes

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, store, cinema room and large car park – is probable to