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A stream so shallow you barely got your feet wet divided a community for over four decades worth of time. Because of a chance of topography, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by coniferous woods, meadows and stunning vistas, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the bad luck to cross the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a border that was marked first by a barrier and then by a barricade. US troops dubbed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Months after their own wall was torn down, and even before their nation had unified again in 1990, a group of residents started memorialising their heritage. The effort is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the demolition of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite prepared. Speaking to the locals who endured the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an brutal split, which pulled relatives apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were observers of an cruel separation, which ripped families asunder and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Past Background

Starting at its creation in 1810, the village straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for assigning all its male descendants the title Heinrich and counting them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the crowd, the oddity never stood in the way of the residents socializing in the identical pub, attending the very same place of worship and placing their young ones to the same school.

Following WWII Division

Next arrived the second world war. Immediately after they came, the Russian troops erected wooden posts by the brook. For a annual period they took over the whole village, establishing their headquarters in a house on the western side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The Americans urged them to withdraw to the other side of the creek. For a period, locals could continue to jump across, though as restrictions became stricter they were required to show identity papers, despite the fact that everyone was aware who they were, and to come back at evening.

Increase of Frontier Measures

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was built, with landmines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The residents could still see each other by ascending hills, but on the east side signaling and shouting were prohibited. One woman was put on a Stasi surveillance list for replying “back at you” to a West German resident who greeted her “happy new year”.

Exhibition Center Establishment

I was told stories such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a large part of his professional career creating it. Residents were asked early on about how how long a section wall they wished to preserve. They opted for a stretch on the west fringe, close to where one of their own managed to escape in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, after which the boundary was significantly reinforced.

Maintained Buildings

Two guard towers are maintained together with a series of tableaux showing the most impactful dates in the village’s history. As we move, the director lists the restrictions: nobody could approach 5km of the border. Agricultural workers needed special permission to care for their produce; the partner could work the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances both, for fear that they tried to escape. Armed guards kept guard.

Broader Background

The border between West Germany and the East Germany ran 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the north to this location in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and honored the most, but more than twice as many individuals (exceeding 300) died attempting to traverse it in provincial zones than in the big city. Lebegern reminds me that 95% of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Community Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or skilled workers, who adapted to residing in the ambiguous area between 2 political systems by avoiding attention and looking after their land. They did not supported the socialist government nor resisted it, Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the village became a type of site of interest. Approximately 15k visited every year, optical devices in possession, to stare – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after merger, the TV show, a broadcast production about a fictional community similar to Mödlareuth, led to new interest.

Present-Day Developments

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, boutique, cinema room and sizable parking lot – is probable to