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A creek so low you barely got your feet wet separated a community for over four decades. Due to a quirk of geography, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by evergreen groves, fields and stunning views, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to straddle the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a frontier that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a barricade. US troops dubbed it Little Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

Several months after their own barrier was breached, and even before their nation had reunified in 1990, a assembly of residents set about documenting their heritage. The effort is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show wasn’t quite ready. Telling the villagers who lived through the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which ripped households apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an inhuman split, which ripped relatives into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Historical Background

Even at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house best known for giving all its male descendants the title Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier told the audience, the quirk did not stand in the way of the inhabitants drinking in the very same tavern, attending the identical religious building and sending their children to the identical school.

Post-War Split

Then came the World War II. As soon as they came, the Russians erected wooden posts by the stream. For a year they took over the entire village, establishing their command in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers persuaded them to pull back across the stream. For a while, residents could still hop over, though as limitations increased they were required to display identification, although everyone understood who they were, and to return at night.

Escalation of Frontier Measures

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was constructed, with landmines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The residents could still view each other by ascending hills, but on the eastern side gesturing and calling out were banned. A female resident was put on a Stasi watch list for responding “likewise” to a West German local who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

It was related to me stories like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has devoted a large part of his occupational time developing it. Residents were polled early on about how what length of wall they wished to keep. They selected a stretch on the west perimeter, near where a villager succeeded to flee in the darkest hours with a climbing device, subsequently the frontier was substantially reinforced.

Conserved Buildings

A pair of observation towers are maintained together with a collection of exhibits showing the most significant moments in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we walk, the director lists the restrictions: no one could come within 5km of the boundary. Farmers needed special permission to care for their crops; the partner could use the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the two, lest they sought to escape. Soldiers stood watch.

Broader Perspective

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic ran nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the north to this location in the south. Berlin is commemorated and honored the greatest, but over twice as many people (exceeding 300) died trying to cross it in countryside regions than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern informs me that almost all of escape attempts failed.

Hamlet Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or artisans, who adapted to living in the uncertain territory between a pair of belief systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their farms. They nor did they supported the communist regime nor opposed it, Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For tourists, however, the village became a sort of pilgrimage. Roughly 15k visited every year, binoculars in their hands, to look – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after merger, the TV show, a TV series about a fictional community similar to Mödlareuth, led to renewed attention.

Modern Developments

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a cafe, boutique, movie theater and large parking lot – is expected to