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An brook so narrow you hardly got your ankles wet divided a settlement for over four decades. By an accident of topography, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by pine forests, fields and stunning vistas, found themselves at the center of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to straddle the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was established first by a enclosure and then by a partition. American soldiers dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

A few months after their own barrier was breached, and before their country had reunified in 1990, a assembly of local people began documenting their heritage. The effort is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the demolition 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 beginning of October, but the show wasn’t quite finished. Telling the residents who lived through the former times, Steinmeier remarked: “You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which ripped relatives asunder and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel division, which pulled families apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Past Origins

Right from its founding in 1810, the hamlet cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most famous for assigning all its male members the title Heinrich and counting them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the oddity was never an obstacle in the manner of the locals drinking in the identical inn, going to the same place of worship and placing their children to the identical school.

After the War Division

Subsequently occurred the World War II. Immediately after they arrived, the Russian troops put up timber poles by the brook. For a twelve months they occupied the complete community, creating their headquarters in a building on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces urged them to pull back back over the stream. For a while, villagers could still jump across, though as limitations increased they were required to present identity papers, although each person knew who they were, and to return at after dark.

Increase of Border Measures

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was erected, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The locals could still observe each other by ascending hills, but on the east side signaling and shouting were forbidden. One woman was placed on a Stasi surveillance list for replying “likewise” to a Bavarian local who greeted her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Development

I heard stories like these by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated much of his working life building it. Villagers were consulted in the initial phases about how how long a section structure they wished to keep. They selected a section on the Bavarian perimeter, close to where a local resident was able to escape in the darkest hours with a ladder, subsequently the border was heavily reinforced.

Preserved Buildings

A pair of watchtowers are preserved alongside a series of displays showing the most significant dates in the community’s history. As we stroll, Lebergen details the rules: not a single person could come within 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers needed particular approval to look after their produce; the spouse could operate the harvesting machine but not the pair, lest they attempted to flee. Soldiers kept guard.

Larger Context

The border between the Federal Republic and the East Germany ran 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the most, but in excess of two times more persons (exceeding 300) lost their lives attempting to pass over it in rural areas than in the big city. Lebegern informs me that 95 percent of attempts to flee failed.

Village Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were rural laborers or skilled workers, who accommodated to dwelling in the ambiguous area between two belief systems by avoiding attention and caring for their fields. They nor did they backed the communist regime nor fought it, Lebegern explains.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the settlement became a type of destination. About 15,000 came to see every year, binoculars in possession, to gawp – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defense official.

25 years after merger, the TV show, a broadcast production about a made-up community resembling Mödlareuth, led to fresh interest.

Modern Changes

The inauguration of the new museum – with a restaurant, store, film screening area and large vehicle area – is expected to