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An stream so shallow you barely got your ankles wet split a settlement for over four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of landscape, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement surrounded by pine forests, pastures and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to straddle Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a border that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a barricade. United States military personnel dubbed it Small Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Several months after their own barrier was torn down, and prior to their country had reunified in 1990, a group of villagers started memorialising their history. The work is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth remembrance of the collapse of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite finished. Speaking to the locals who experienced the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which tore relatives into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which tore families into pieces and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

Historical Context

Even at its creation in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for assigning all its men the name Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the locals socializing in the same pub, visiting the same place of worship and enrolling their young ones to the same learning center.

Following WWII Separation

Next arrived the World War II. Immediately after they arrived, the Soviet forces erected wood stakes by the creek. For a year they occupied the complete community, establishing their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces urged them to pull back back over the brook. For a period, residents could continue to jump across, though as controls tightened they were forced to show identification, despite the fact that all was aware who they were, and to return at evening.

Intensification of Boundary Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was built, with explosives, tank traps and watchtowers. The residents could continue to observe each other by climbing elevations, but on the Soviet side gesturing and yelling were forbidden. A local woman was placed on a GDR intelligence surveillance list for replying “likewise” to a Bavarian villager who greeted her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I heard stories like these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated much of his professional career developing it. Residents were consulted at an early stage about how much barrier they desired to maintain. They opted for a section on the western perimeter, close to where one of their own was able to get away in the dead of night with a scaling tool, following which the boundary was significantly reinforced.

Maintained Buildings

A pair of watchtowers are preserved in addition to a collection of exhibits depicting the most significant events in the community’s past. As we move, Robert Lebegern details the rules: no one could approach 5km of the border. Farmers had to obtain specific authorization to care for their fields; the husband or wife could use the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances the pair, in case they sought to escape. Armed guards stood watch.

Broader Perspective

The border between the Federal Republic and the East Germany stretched nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the northern part to here in the south. Berlin is recalled and documented the greatest, but over two times more persons (well over 300) lost their lives trying to cross it in provincial zones than in the big city. Lebegern reminds me that 95 percent of attempts to flee failed.

Community Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or skilled workers, who adapted to residing in the uncertain territory between a pair of ideological spheres by staying low-profile and tending to their fields. They nor did they backed the East German authorities nor fought it, the director states.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the settlement became a sort of site of interest. About 15k visited every year, optical devices in possession, to look – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

25 years after reunification, the TV show, a television program about a fictional hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh interest.

Present-Day Developments

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