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An brook so shallow you hardly got your ankles wet divided a village for more than four decades worth of time. By an accident of topography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, fields and stunning scenery, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the misfortune to straddle Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a border that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a barricade. American soldiers called it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Several months after their own division was opened, and prior to their state had become one in 1990, a collection of villagers started documenting their heritage. The project is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition was not completely ready. Telling the villagers who experienced the past era, Steinmeier remarked: “You were bystanders of an cruel split, which tore households asunder and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

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

Historical Origins

Right from its founding in 1810, the community spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house best known for bestowing all its men the title Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the quirk did not stand in the way of the inhabitants socializing in the identical inn, going to the very same church and placing their young ones to the very same school.

Post-War Split

Next arrived the global conflict. As soon as they arrived, the Russians put up wood stakes by the creek. For a twelve months they occupied the complete village, setting up their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces urged them to pull back across the stream. For a time, villagers could still cross over, though as restrictions increased they were obliged to display identification, even though everyone knew who they were, and to return at evening.

Intensification of Border Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official sealing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was built, with explosives, tank traps and guard posts. The locals could still observe each other by ascending hills, but on the east side signaling and yelling were prohibited. A local woman was placed on a East German secret police surveillance list for responding “same to you” to a West German local who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Creation

It was related to me narratives such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent much of his occupational time building it. Residents were asked in the initial phases about how what length of barrier they desired to maintain. They opted for a section on the west fringe, near where a villager managed to get away in the darkest hours with a ladder, after which the boundary was significantly strengthened.

Maintained Installations

Two guard towers are maintained together with a series of tableaux illustrating the most impactful events in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern lists the regulations: nobody could come within 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers had to obtain specific authorization to look after their crops; the spouse could operate the harvesting machine but not both, lest they tried to escape. Military personnel stood watch.

Broader Context

The border between the Federal Republic and the GDR ran nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and honored the most frequently, but in excess of two times more individuals (exceeding 300) were killed trying to pass over it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern informs me that almost all of efforts to cross failed.

Community Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or artisans, who adjusted to dwelling in the ambiguous area between 2 ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and caring for their farms. They neither endorsed the East German authorities nor fought it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Interest

For visitors, however, the village became a sort of pilgrimage. About 15,000 visited every year, viewing tools in possession, to gawp – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after reunification, Tannbach, a TV series about a made-up community resembling Mödlareuth, caused new attention.

Modern Developments

The opening of the new museum – with a restaurant, boutique, cinema room and big parking lot – is expected to