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An stream so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet split a settlement for more than four decades worth of time. By an accident of landscape, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement encircled by coniferous woods, meadows and stunning vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a partition. United States military personnel dubbed it Little Berlin.

Memorialising the Past

A few months after their own barrier was opened, and even before their country had unified again in 1990, a collection of residents set about documenting their past. The effort is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was formally launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show was not entirely ready. Speaking to the locals who experienced the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were observers of an cruel separation, which pulled families asunder and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which tore families apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Historical Background

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the community spanned the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house best known for giving all its male members the name Heinrich and counting them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the quirk did not stand in the path of the residents drinking in the same pub, going to the same church and sending their children to the very same educational institution.

After the War Separation

Next arrived the second world war. As soon as they came, the Soviet forces installed wood stakes by the creek. For a year they took over the complete community, creating their headquarters in a dwelling on the western side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces convinced them to pull back back over the stream. For a time, villagers could still cross over, though as restrictions tightened they were required to show identity papers, despite the fact that everyone understood who they were, and to return at night.

Intensification of Boundary Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was constructed, with mines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The villagers could still view each other by scaling elevations, but on the eastern side waving and shouting were banned. One woman was placed on a Stasi monitoring list for replying “likewise” to a West German resident who wished her “good new year”.

Exhibition Center Establishment

I heard stories like these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a significant portion of his occupational time creating it. Residents were asked at an early stage about how how long a section barrier they wanted to preserve. They selected a stretch on the western edge, near where a villager managed to flee in the darkest hours with a climbing device, after which the boundary was significantly strengthened.

Maintained Structures

A pair of watchtowers are maintained in addition to a collection of exhibits showing the most significant dates in the hamlet’s past. As we walk, the director details the restrictions: not a single person could come within 5km of the frontier. Rural residents had to obtain special permission to care for their fields; the spouse could operate the harvesting machine but not the pair, lest they tried to flee. Soldiers stood watch.

Larger Background

The border between West Germany and the GDR ran nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and honored the most, but more than twice as many people (exceeding 300) were killed seeking to traverse it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern tells me that almost all of escape attempts failed.

Village Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or artisans, who accommodated to living in the grey zone between a pair of political systems by avoiding attention and caring for their fields. They neither supported the East German authorities nor fought it, Lebegern explains.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a type of destination. Approximately 15,000 came to see every year, viewing tools in hand, to gawp – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after unification, Tannbach, a television program about a imaginary community similar to Mödlareuth, caused new curiosity.

Present-Day Changes

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a cafe, store, cinema room and sizable vehicle area – is expected to