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A brook so narrow you hardly got your feet wet separated a village for in excess of four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of topography, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by evergreen groves, pastures and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was established first by a barrier and then by a barricade. United States military personnel nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Months after their own division was opened, and prior to their country had become one in 1990, a collection of local people started commemorating their past. The effort is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially launched by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show wasn’t quite prepared. Addressing the locals who endured the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which ripped families into pieces and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel division, which ripped relatives asunder and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Past Background

Starting at its founding in 1810, the community spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most renowned for assigning all its men the designation Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier told the audience, the oddity never stood in the path of the residents drinking in the very same tavern, visiting the same church and placing their young ones to the very same educational institution.

After the War Division

Then came the World War II. The moment they appeared, the Russian troops installed wooden posts by the stream. For a year they occupied the complete community, creating their headquarters in a house on the western side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers urged them to pull back to the other side of the stream. For a period, locals could still jump across, though as controls tightened they were obliged to present identity papers, although everyone understood who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Increase of Frontier Measures

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was built, with mines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The villagers could still see each other by ascending hills, but on the eastern side gesturing and yelling were banned. A local woman was put on a Stasi monitoring list for replying “same to you” to a western villager who wished her “happy new year”.

Museum Establishment

It was related to me narratives like these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has devoted a large part of his professional career building it. Locals were asked at an early stage about how how long a section structure they wanted to keep. They opted for a stretch on the west perimeter, close to where a villager was able to flee in the darkest hours with a ladder, subsequently the border was significantly strengthened.

Maintained Buildings

Two watchtowers are conserved in addition to a set of displays depicting the most dramatic dates in the community’s history. As we move, Lebergen enumerates the restrictions: not a single person could approach 5km of the border. Farmers required particular approval to look after their crops; the husband or wife could use the agricultural equipment but never the two, in case they tried to escape. Armed guards were on duty.

Broader Context

The border between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and honored the most, but over twice as many people (more than 300) lost their lives seeking to traverse it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Lebegern tells me that 95% of attempts to flee failed.

Village Existence

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or skilled workers, who adjusted to residing in the grey zone between 2 political systems by keeping their heads down and caring for their land. They did not endorsed the socialist government nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a type of destination. About 15,000 came to visit annually, viewing tools in their hands, to look – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty five years after unification, the television series, a television program about a made-up community like Mödlareuth, caused fresh curiosity.

Present-Day Changes

The inauguration of the new museum – with a restaurant, shop, film screening area and big car park – is likely to