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A creek so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet separated a settlement for in excess of four decades of time. By an accident of geography, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by pine forests, meadows and stunning scenery, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was established first by a barrier and then by a barricade. US troops called it Little Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

Several months after their own division was breached, and even before their nation had unified again in 1990, a assembly of villagers set about documenting their heritage. The project is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the fall of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was formally inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition was not entirely prepared. Speaking to the residents who endured the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an brutal separation, which pulled relatives apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

“You were observers of an cruel split, which ripped households into pieces and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Historical Background

Starting at its creation in 1810, the village cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a royal family most famous for assigning all its men the title Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the oddity did not stand in the manner of the residents gathering in the identical pub, visiting the same place of worship and sending their kids to the identical educational institution.

After the War Split

Then came the global conflict. Immediately after they came, the Russians installed wooden posts by the creek. For a year they seized the complete community, creating their command in a building on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The US forces convinced them to pull back across the creek. For a time, locals could still hop over, though as controls tightened they were forced to show ID, although everyone was aware who they were, and to go back at evening.

Intensification of Border Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was erected, with explosives, tank traps and observation points. The residents could still view each other by climbing slopes, but on the eastern side signaling and shouting were banned. A female resident was added to a GDR intelligence surveillance list for answering “same to you” to a western villager who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Establishment

It was related to me accounts such as these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated much of his working life developing it. Villagers were asked early on about how what length of wall they wanted to maintain. They chose a section on the Bavarian fringe, near where one of their own managed to get away in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, subsequently the boundary was significantly reinforced.

Preserved Structures

2 watchtowers are preserved together with a set of displays depicting the most significant dates in the community’s past. As we stroll, Lebergen enumerates the rules: no one could approach 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers needed special permission to look after their fields; the partner could use the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the two, lest they tried to make a run for it. Soldiers stood watch.

Larger Context

The frontier between Western Germany and the GDR stretched 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to here in the south. Berlin is remembered and honored the most, but in excess of two times more people (exceeding 300) died attempting to traverse it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95% of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Community Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or craftsmen, who adapted to living in the grey zone between two belief systems by avoiding attention and tending to their land. They did not supported the East German authorities nor opposed it, the director clarifies.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a type of destination. About 15,000 came to visit annually, optical devices in possession, to gawp – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after unification, the TV show, a TV series about a imaginary community resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in new curiosity.

Present-Day Developments

The inauguration of the new museum – with a coffee shop, shop, film screening area and big vehicle area – is expected to