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A stream so narrow you hardly got your feet wet divided a village for more than four decades of time. By an accident of geography, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by coniferous woods, pastures and spectacular views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a boundary that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. United States military personnel dubbed it Small Berlin.

Preserving History

Months after their own barrier was torn down, and before their nation had reunified in 1990, a collection of villagers started documenting their heritage. The project is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth commemoration of the collapse of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the display wasn’t quite ready. Speaking to the villagers who endured the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which ripped households asunder and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which tore households asunder and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Bygone Context

Right from its founding in 1810, the community straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most famous for assigning all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and numbering them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the oddity did not stand in the way of the inhabitants socializing in the same pub, going to the very same place of worship and enrolling their children to the very same school.

After the War Separation

Then came the second world war. As soon as they arrived, the Soviet forces erected wooden posts by the creek. For a annual period they occupied the complete community, establishing their control center in a house on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers convinced them to withdraw to the other side of the creek. For a period, villagers could still jump across, though as restrictions increased they were obliged to present identification, even though all knew who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Escalation of Frontier Controls

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal sealing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a concrete structure was erected, with landmines, tank traps and guard posts. The residents could still observe each other by ascending hills, but on the Soviet side signaling and yelling were banned. A female resident was put on a Stasi monitoring list for responding “back at you” to a Bavarian local who greeted her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

It was related to me narratives such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has spent much of his working life creating it. Residents were consulted early on about how what length of barrier they desired to maintain. They chose a portion on the Bavarian fringe, adjacent to where a villager was able to escape in the darkest hours with a climbing device, subsequently the border was significantly strengthened.

Conserved Installations

2 watchtowers are conserved alongside a series of displays depicting the most impactful dates in the village’s history. As we walk, Lebergen enumerates the regulations: nobody could approach 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers required special permission to tend to their produce; the spouse could operate the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the pair, in case they sought to escape. Armed guards stood watch.

Broader Context

The boundary between Western Germany and the GDR extended nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to this location in the south. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the most, but more than double the number persons (more than 300) lost their lives attempting to traverse it in rural areas than in the urban center. Lebegern reminds me that 95% of attempts to flee failed.

Village Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who adapted to residing in the grey zone between two belief systems by keeping their heads down and caring for their land. They did not backed the socialist government nor fought it, Lebegern states.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the village became a sort of site of interest. Approximately 15k visited each year, binoculars in their hands, to look – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

25 years after merger, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a fictional community like Mödlareuth, caused new curiosity.

Present-Day Changes

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