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A brook so narrow you barely got your ankles wet separated a village for over four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of landscape, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by pine forests, pastures and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a frontier that was established first by a fence and then by a partition. American soldiers called it Little Berlin.

Commemorating History

A few months after their own division was opened, and before their country had become one in 1990, a collection of villagers started commemorating their history. The project is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not entirely finished. Addressing the residents who experienced the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an brutal separation, which tore relatives into pieces and turned neighbors into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which pulled households apart and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Bygone Background

Even at its establishment in 1810, the village straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most famous for bestowing all its male members the title Heinrich and numbering them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the quirk did not stand in the manner of the inhabitants gathering in the same inn, visiting the very same place of worship and enrolling their children to the same learning center.

Following WWII Split

Then came the second world war. As soon as they appeared, the Russian troops erected timber poles by the stream. For a annual period they seized the complete community, setting up their command in a building on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers urged them to pull back back over the stream. For a time, residents could continue to jump across, though as restrictions increased they were forced to display ID, despite the fact that everyone was aware who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Increase of Frontier Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was erected, with mines, tank traps and observation points. The residents could still observe each other by ascending hills, but on the east side waving and shouting were banned. A local woman was put on a GDR intelligence watch list for replying “same to you” to a West German local who wished her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Development

It was related to me narratives including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has devoted much of his occupational time developing it. Residents were asked at an early stage about how much barrier they desired to preserve. They opted for a portion on the western edge, adjacent to where a villager succeeded to escape in the darkest hours with a climbing device, following which the frontier was heavily reinforced.

Conserved Structures

2 watchtowers are maintained in addition to a series of exhibits illustrating the most impactful dates in the village’s past. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern enumerates the regulations: nobody could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Farmers had to obtain specific authorization to care for their fields; the partner could operate the agricultural equipment but not the pair, in case they attempted to escape. Armed guards stood watch.

Broader Context

The border between West Germany and the East Germany stretched 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and documented the most frequently, but over twice as many individuals (exceeding 300) were killed trying to cross it in rural areas than in the big city. Lebegern informs me that 95% of escape attempts failed.

Village Existence

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were agricultural workers or artisans, who adapted to living in the ambiguous area between 2 ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and tending to their fields. They did not backed the East German authorities nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the village became a kind of pilgrimage. About 15k visited each year, viewing tools in hand, to stare – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

25 years after unification, the TV show, a TV series about a imaginary village like Mödlareuth, caused fresh attention.

Modern Evolutions

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, store, cinema room and sizable parking lot – is expected to