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A creek so narrow you barely got your feet wet separated a community for in excess of four decades. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, meadows and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a border that was established first by a enclosure and then by a partition. American soldiers called it Mini Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Months after their own barrier was torn down, and prior to their nation had reunified in 1990, a assembly of local people started documenting 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 open. It was formally launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the exhibition was not completely prepared. Addressing the locals who lived through the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which pulled relatives asunder and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which tore relatives asunder and turned local residents into aliens.”

Bygone Origins

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the village spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most renowned for assigning all its men the name Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the residents socializing in the very same pub, going to the very same religious building and sending their young ones to the very same learning center.

Post-War Separation

Then came the World War II. As soon as they came, the Russians installed wood stakes by the creek. For a annual period they took over the entire hamlet, creating their headquarters in a dwelling on the western side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The US forces convinced them to withdraw back over the creek. For a while, residents could still jump across, though as controls increased they were required to show identity papers, even though everyone knew who they were, and to return at evening.

Increase of Frontier Controls

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal shutting of the boundary. 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 elevations, but on the eastern side signaling and shouting were prohibited. A local woman was put on a Stasi monitoring list for replying “back at you” to a western resident who said her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Creation

I heard accounts like these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent a large part of his occupational time developing it. Residents were asked in the initial phases about how how long a section structure they desired to keep. They selected a section on the west fringe, adjacent to where a local resident was able to escape in the middle of the night with a scaling tool, following which the frontier was heavily reinforced.

Preserved Installations

A pair of guard towers are preserved together with a collection of displays showing the most impactful dates in the village’s history. As we walk, Lebergen lists the rules: not a single person could approach 5km of the boundary. Farmers required special permission to tend to their crops; the partner could work the harvesting machine but not the pair, lest they attempted to escape. Armed guards kept guard.

Broader Background

The border between West Germany and the East Germany ran 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and documented the greatest, but over twice as many people (exceeding 300) were killed attempting to cross it in provincial zones than in the big city. the director reminds me that almost all of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Community Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or artisans, who adapted to dwelling in the ambiguous area between 2 political systems by avoiding attention and looking after their land. They nor did they backed the communist regime nor fought it, the director clarifies.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a sort of destination. Approximately 15,000 visited each year, binoculars in their hands, to stare – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

25 years after unification, the television series, a broadcast production about a fictional community similar to Mödlareuth, caused fresh attention.

Modern Changes

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, shop, movie theater and big parking lot – is probable to